Whistleblower
by FallingT
Summary: Things had gone sour in her life well before her career as a Mercenary reached the end because of a job gone wrong, but that seemed to have been the point of no return. Untill, of course, /another/ job went wrong. She never would have thought that a stolen ship would cause her so much pain, honestly, nor that it could put her on the wrong side of the same bridge again.
1. C H A P T E R O N E

Hello :)  
This is my first dip in the pond of the MCU, so pardon me if somethings won't make sense!  
I've just recently seen Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and, spoiler alert, I am not ok with Yondu's death. Nope, not even a little. So here I am with a slight AU and a brand new, thoroughly researhed OC. Be kind to her, alright?  
This work begins sometime before the start of the second movie, but it will eventually cover that as well, so buckle up, we're going on a space adventure!

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

XANDAR – Capitol of the Nova Empire

It was the middle of the work day, the streets were buzzing with activity, and people crowded every corner of the ever busy city; no one was paying attention to her, an anonymous face in a sea of colorful aliens, all going about their business. Eyien was whistling a melody under her breath, her eyes, seemingly unfocused, were scanning string after string of information pouring on the visor she kept on her left eye, waiting to pinpoint the exact piece she was looking for. Sitting on the edge of one of the several fountains that seemed to litter the plaza, she was the most inconspicuous person that there ever could be around, her feet keeping the tempo of her melody, masking the slight buzz she could feel up her back while she whistled. She kept at it for a while, until what she was looking for popped on the screen.

"Gotcha!" she happily sing-songed under her breath.

Her right hand, hidden in the pocket of her bomber jacket, moved quickly over the portable mini keyboard, and soon enough her earpiece binged in confirmation of the transaction.

Thirty thousand units had just been transferred to one of her many accounts, directly from one 's pockets.

 _Sweet_.

Another easy job completed, now all that remained to do was enjoy the rest of the day in peace and quiet. Maybe she'd have a drink in her fancy hotel room (that had been completely covered by her previous job, naturally), just to pass the time before her new client made itself known.

Life as a Tracer was much more comfortable and easy than when she was a mercenary; for starters, she didn't have to be around unwashed men all day long, and secondly, there were less people who tried to kill her. Sure, there were dangers, but at least she could ease them away while soaking in a luxurious bathtub.

She stretched with a yawn as she raised from the fountain, her jacket and tee raising with the movement, baring her violet midriff to the public eye. Not that anyone would notice or say anything about it, mind you; Xandar's society was extremely open minded and varied, there was no thing as _too much skin_. On the contrary, she was probably overly dressed for the latest fashion.

Pressing a button behind her ear, her visor disappeared, and Eyien replaced it with a pair of sunglasses; they were _definitely_ outdated, but she had taken a shine on the item since the first time she had fund them in a stall of a random vendor. Almost out of instinct, her lips parted slightly, and Eyien started to whistle once more. The notes to Vivaldi's Spring flowed out of her mouth in perfect harmony, and once more she blessed the day she had managed to find that radio station coming from Terra that had broaden her musical knowledge impressively. Xandarian culture wasn't too big on music that wasn't electronically produced, and her mother had never had the time to teach her the melodies that _her_ people used to fight with, so she had made up her own.

With nothing more to do for the day, Eyien made her way to the hotel, whistling all the way, with her hands casually placed in her bomber's pockets. There was nothing pressing she needed to do, nor any preoccupation crossing her mind, which was just perfect with her.

She spared a glance towards an area that was stilled crossed out and off limits; reparations were still ongoing in some parts of the city, and she wistfully remembered the events of almost three years before, when the _Guardians of the Galaxy_ had saved Xandar from Ronan's attack. She had been shocked and amused in equal parts to know who _exactly_ Star Lord was, and even more so when he had successfully obtained the help of the Ravagers for his plan.

She was still chuckling at the thought of those mercenaries playing the part of the good guys, when she reached the lobby of the Hotel she was staying at. Her eyes immediately caught sight of the three figures standing at the receptionist's desk; they were Nova Corps Officers, and they didn't look like they were making casual conversation with the woman behind the desk.

Eyien hissed in displeasure, quickly hiding behind one of the pillars that adorned the lobby; her hand activated her visor, automatically enhancing both her vision and her hearing.

" – looking for this woman," the man at the front said, presumably showing the employee an holo "she goes by the name of _Tracer_ " he went on, crossing his arms over his chest.

Eyien had to restrain herself from muttering a string of curses out loud when the officer gave her Alias. Good thing she never went by that when she registered in any accommodation; that was a name that only her clientele knew her by, which meant that she could go around using her real name without a problem.

"I'm sorry officer, we do not have anyone registered to that name here" the Receptionist replied, her eyes focused on the screen in front of her.

Eyien breathed in relief too soon.

"Can you look at the picture once more? Maybe she's going under a different name" the officer insisted, shuffling the holopad a little closer to her.

The woman, a pretty kylorean with cotton candy pink skin, lifted her eyes from one screen to another, diligently following the officer's instructions. _Everyone_ on Xandar was big on following the rules; well, _almost_ everyone, at least.

The perfectly shaped eyebrows of the woman tightened in a frown, and for several seconds Eyien dared not breath.

"Actually, now that I look at her…I think I've seen her around here in the past few days. She doesn't look quite like that, but I would recognize her eyes anywhere, they are so pretty" the Receptionist replied, offering a gentle smile to the man.

Behind her hiding spot, Eyien didn't know whether to groan in frustration or feel flattered by the compliment.

"Can you tell me which room she's staying at?" the man asked, a certain kind of urgency coloring his words.

The employee remained silent for a few moments, probably lost in thought.

"If you can send me that picture, I should be able to trace it in our archives. We always keep track of our guests with a facial ID" she supplied helpfully.

Eyien eyes bulged out of her head for a split second. That was bad news. She _definitely_ needed to scram, like _right now_!

The program would need at least a couple of minutes before it could identify her, and she could add another few by bugging it with some annoying adds, but more than that…

Taking a deep breath, she rounded the pillar, paying attention to keep her back to the reception desk and the Nova Corps as her hand swiftly run across her keyboard. A moment later she heard the receptionist huff in annoyance, and she knew her time limit would start to go down soon. Trying to keep her steps casual, she made her way to the elevator, pressed the button, and jumped in.

Her heart was beating like crazy, and she could feel sweat starting to trail down her back under her tee.

 _I just need to get my bag and go_ , she mused to herself.

Realization hit her when she was about midway to her floor.

 _I don't have a way out set up! Shit!_

Fay was to prepare her transport off of Xandar in two days, meaning she was stuck on the planet.

 _Fuck it, I'll wing it. I can_ borrow _someone's ship for the time being!_

With that settled, she bolted out of the elevator the second the door opened, and made a bee line for her room. She didn't have time to pack all of her things, and she begrudgingly decided to leave them behind; what mattered was all of her work equipment, which was thankfully already packed. With one last sweep across the room, to make sure she wasn't leaving anything relevant behind, she grabbed the bag, slid it across her shoulders, and then she was out.

The emergency stairs were the safest bet to get down, at least for the first ten floors or so, where she could be sure she wouldn't run in the Nova Corps officers.

She honestly hadn't expected them to catch up to her so quickly; usually her tracks were better covered, but they must have had more tracking programs in place than she thought. That, or someone had give up her name to them.

 _Fuck._

It was the last time she accepted to steal _anything_ from the Nova Prime _ever again_!

She reached the ground floor fairly quickly, and immediately headed towards the service entrance. She noticed too late the woman that was standing guard just in front of the door, and before she could do anything else, she felt the magnetic pull of the gun drag her in.

"Not on my watch!" she muttered under her breath, one hand already sneaking in her pocket. She only had to push a key, and the influence of the gun disappeared.

She smirked; she'd been in the line of work for several years now, there was no way they would catch her unprepared and without safety measures in place, especially on her own person.

Eyien could see the confused eyes of the agent widen behind her helmet, and before she could think of anything else to do, the momentum of Eyien run and the gun had jerked her forward, making her barrel directly into the Nova Corps' agent. The women went down both with a huff, but Eyien was back on her feet in a handful of seconds; without any kind of armor to weigh her down, she had the upper hand in her escape.

She was well on her way to the nearest dock bay when the reinforcement arrived; four units in their ships, all trying to either flank her or outrun her.

Eyien had broke in a mad run since the hotel, her chest burning with fatigue with every breath she took; she wasn't used to this kind of workout, not since she had quit her mercenary life anyway, but she still had it in her somehow, and managed not to die before she _actually_ made it in the space port.

Luckily for her, it seemed that a transport had just touched down, meaning a multitude of people was crowding the bay's floor, making it easy for Eyien to lose her pursuers.

At some point, when she was sure she had managed to confuse herself with the many travelers, she slowed down, fixed the bag on her shoulders, and quietly walked around.

When she turned on her visor, the VI started to point out which ships of smaller size were currently unoccupied and ready to be _borrowed_.

"Jackpot!" she hummed in approval as her eyes fell on a sweet piece of tech gingerly parked, screaming for her to take it.

It was a relatively small ship, but still big enough to host three-four members of a team.

Not that she had any, anyway.

Trying to come off as casual as she could, she sauntered towards the ship, only stopping once she reached what she presumed was the way in. Surely enough, a small panel was placed beside the entrance, and she made short work of it. In under a minute the door swooshed open, and Eyien hurried inside.

Only when the metal door was safely sealed behind her, she gave in to her curiosity, eyes rooming around to give her an idea of whom she was stealing from. Nothing particularly relevant caught her attention until she was standing on the upper level's bridge.

Three chairs – two of which were presumably the pilot and copilot's chairs, occupied the space, a screen stuck in the middle of the two front ones. She wandered towards what she thought was the pilot seat, leaving her duffel bag on the ground next to it, and sat down.

She knew very little on how to _skillfully_ fly a ship, but she knew enough to get the hell out of there.

When she was settled, her hands moved almost automatically, switching levers and pressing buttons, until the engine was roaring to life.

Eyien reclined back in the chair while she waited for the authorization for takeoff, her hands going to rest on the sides. She looked down in confusion when her right brushed something, only to see a collection of mini trolls and bobbles decorating the small metal corridor of the armrest.

Her brows knitted in confusion, but her head was immediately taken somewhere else when the ok came through the system: she was ready and eager to leave.

Something in the back of her mind told her that the name displayed on the screen under the authorization should have ticked her off, but she couldn't put her hands on it, so she let it go in one of her many mental boxes, and forgot all about it.

Two hours later she had left the Empire's Space, and finally she let herself relax.

Stretching her limbs over the console in front of her feet, she reached down in her bag and produced a small bag of chips. It opened with a satisfying pop, and Eyien almost moaned as the sweet aroma hit her nose; those were her favorite in the whole universe, and there was only one place where they produced them, a place she was currently on route to. She had already texted Fey through a secure channel, letting xe know she was already off world and wouldn't be around for a while. Xe had let her know that xe would keep an eye out for more news on her behalf.

All that was left now, was to drive this ship to safety, sat up base at her run down flat (the first she had ever bought and lived in, actually) and work on understanding how or who had rattled her out to the Nova Corps.

She was about three jumps from her destination when suddenly her ship started beeping like crazy, automatically halting her course; before she could even process what in the fucking hell had just happened, a barrage of ships appeared in front of her, successfully building a wall in front of her escape route.

Her ship went silent all of a sudden, and Eyien felt every muscle in her body tense up.

A lonely beep resonated ship-wide, and the big screen in between the two front sit lit up: someone was hailing her ship.

Gulping down a sudden block in her throat, Eyien accepted the call.

The face that appeared on screen had her eyes bulge in shock and recognition, and suddenly her brain registered why the name _Yondu Udonta_ sounded so fucking familiar to her.

"Hello lassie. It appears you have something of mine, mind giving it back?"

 _Well, shit._


	2. C H A P T E R T W O

Grumpy Galaxy Dad meets Sassy Tracer - flirting and punches ensue.

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO**

UNKNOWN SPACE LOCATION – Yondu's Mothership

"Move it, girl!"

"I'm walking, you asshole!" Eyien snapped to back at the guy who was pushing her around, moving her forcefully forward.

"You better watch that mouth of yours, the Captain don't do well with _attitudes_ " he warned her, putting a bit more force than necessary when he shoved her again.

"Could have fooled me" she replied, trying once more to pull at the restraints that blocked her wrists in front of her.

The guy didn't reply, and Eyien retreated back in her own head.

The muffled noises of the ship were a stark contrast against the raging cursing monologue that was taking place inside her brain. She'd been insulting herself and her bad luck since the moment Yondu's face had appeared in front of her. What kind of sick twist of fate had out her, in between hundreds of choices, right in _his_ ship?

There still was a slight chance that he would let her go without too much fuss if she could offer him and his crew something, but that was a very thin shred of hope she was holding onto…

At this point someone had probably already recognized her, or had probably run her face through the net; she presumed it wouldn't take a genius to find out that she had a giant bounty of over a hundred thousand units on her head.

 _Or,_ a voice in her head chirped in, _they would prefer using you as a bargaining chip for something else_ , it said, making her skin crawl.

Her self-loathing was interrupted when they came face to face with the end of the corridor; the door in front of her swooshed open in a matter of seconds, and just like that, she found herself in the middle of a bridge filled with Ravagers, and they were all staring at her like she had committed the worst of crimes against her.

"Before we start with the wrong foot, would it help if I said that I meant to give the ship back once I was done with it?" she ventured casually, offering a cheeky grin to her audience as she was pushed forward to stand right in front of the Captain's chair.

Yondu was looking at her with a raised brow, his mouth twisted in an amused smirk.

"How generous of you lassie, I'm almost tempted to let ya go just for that" he laughed at her, obviously far from feeling _that_ magnanimous.

No one stole from the Ravagers without retaliation, she knew.

"Well, can't say I didn't try" she shrugged, her body faking a confidence she was far from feeling.

"Yeah, but you see, no one - "

"Steals from the Ravagers without retaliation, _I know_. Been there, done that. Can we skip to the part where you punch me up a bit and then leave me somewhere to rot? I kind of have things to do" she interjected, cutting Yondu's grand speech off. She knew him, knew how he operated, and the sooner she could get off his ship, the happier she'd be.

Eyien winced inward when the expression on the mercenary's face went from playfully uninterested in her future, to fully aware of her persona; it didn't bode well for her, all things considered.

"Girl, I wouldn't test my patience with that attitude of yours" he warned her, his eyes examining her from head to toe for the first time she had entered. Judging by the frown that was creasing his blue skin, she'd bet he was trying to figure out why she looked familiar.

"Captain, I've run her through the system, she's - " another person came barreling through the door, stopping just short of her; Eyien turned to look over her shoulder at the new comer, and was almost pleased when she recognized the familiar face.

"Ah, if it isn't Kraglin! Long time no see" she exclaimed almost cheerily, nodding to the man.

Yondu's attention switched from her to his man, and he motioned him forward.

"You know her?" he asked.

Kraglin nodded once before he turned to face her once again.

"She's the _Tracer_ " he explained, and silence fell on the bridge.

Suddenly, all that could be heard was the groan leaving Eyien's throat.

"The Tracer, uh? Now I know why you looked familiar" Yondu mused out loud once the bridge had been devoid of everyone except of Kraglin, himself, and Eyien.

Eyien stubbornly refused to open her mouth.

She had nothing to say if that was where the conversation was headed.

She had left _that_ life behind, and even though she still used the Alias to work, it had a whole different meaning for her.

"And you know each other?" the cetaurian went on, this time addressing his subordinate, momentarily ignoring her.

"Yes, we ran into each other on more than one work. We used to keep in contact before she – uh, _disappeared_ " Kraglin replied, stumbling somewhat awkwardly at the end.

Eyien scoffed.

"Got something to add, lassie?" Yondu asked, rounding on her.

"Yeah, first of all I've got a name, it's Eyien, if you don't mind. Second of all I didn't _disappear_ , I deserted, thank you very much" she huffed, resting her weight on her right leg. She was getting tired of standing around like that, with her wrists still bound together. Also, since every chance she had to get out of there quickly had dissipated, they could have at least given her a chair.

"And that should be better _how_?" he rebuked, an undertone of annoyance entering his voice.

"Because _I_ had the guts to leave on my own terms" she explained simply, smirking victoriously when she saw on his face that her words had hit home.

She was expecting the whistle when it came, and she was more excited than scared to see the yaka arrow appear right in front of her face.

She observed the weapon with growing interest as it hovered, wavering slightly in the air. It was the first time she saw one up close other than her own, and she was nowhere near that level of mastery; at best, her own arrow could levitate a small bit, at worst it simply shook in its holster whenever she whistled her melodies. She had hypothesized that the arrow had still to adjust to her tunes, which were so different from the ones her people used, but it had been _years_ and still the deadliest thing she had managed to do was pierce a pillow, once.

She raised her hands slowly, reaching out a finger towards it to try and touch it, but as soon as she came close to it, another whistle sounded in the air, and the arrow disappeared from view.

"Well, rude" Eyien called out, giving Yondu the stink eye.

The man was watching her with a weird expression, his face stuck somewhere in between anger and confusion for her apparent lack of fear towards his clear threat.

"Why ain't she scared?" he asked, eyes not leaving Eyien, who was still glaring his way, but clearly talking to Kraglin.

"I uh- don't know? I mean, I would be scared" Kraglin supplied, earning a side glance from his captain and a smug smirk from Eyien. "I mean, you _are_ intimidating, Captain" he added, fumbling on his words like a teenage boy with a crush; it was really highly entertaining, and Eyien could not hold back her laugh.

"You guys really have gone soft since helping save the Galaxy, uh?" she laughed at them, once again shifting her weight from one leg to another. She was really getting tired of standing.

"And what would you know, lassie? I'd be surprised if you even knew how to shoot a blaster" Yondu pointed out, his stance getting aggressive with his hands crossed over his broad, leather-bound chest. Eyien eyes followed the movement, and a spark of interest burned in her eyes.

"Oh I don't know, I think I can hold my own. Wanna try me?" she teased, wiggling her black eyebrows at him and eliciting a chocked sound from her former colleague and a scowl from his captain.

 _Not one for flirting, duly noted_ , she told herself wistfully.

Not that it would stop her, of course. That only meant she had something else to use to rile him up. Maybe if she got him mad enough, he'd get tired of her and drop her off somewhere just to get her out of his sight. Like every other plan she'd had, it was worth a shot.

"You realize you're on _my ship_ , at _my mercy_ , right? Yet you still being a smartass with me" he emphasized, trying to remind her that she wasn't in the position to be bitching around with him.

Eyien shrugged in her bomber, her body language conveying how little she cared for his threats.

If there was one thing she was sure of, in that scenario, was that she was far more valuable to him alive than dead, and since she had no qualms about eventually getting repeatedly punched, she gave little to no shit about how many times or ways she was going to be threatened.

"Ah, and here I was under the impression you had special place in your heart for smartasses. After all, didn't your favourite smartass save the galaxy some time ago? You must have been a _very_ proud daddy!" she exclaimed mockingly, still pushing at his buttons to find his limit.

And find it she did.

The knowledge she had reached his limit came with an unexpectedly swift punch to her face.

She didn't even notice Yondu move until his fist was colliding with the right side of her face, the impact sending her stumbling backwards as a pained groan left her parted, and now bruising, lips.

"Motherfucker! That hurt!" she found herself growl, her still tied hands rushing to the offended part of her face to assess the damage. Nothing broken, but that was a given. Her Xandarian genes were a pretty solid assurance against any kind of bone fracture, and despite the apparent strength behind the punch she had just received, she doubted Yondu had made any real damage to her face.

"I know" she said, staggering to stand up straight again. "I kind of deserved that" she chuckled, knowing that her nonchalance would only drive him mad further. It was a reckless game she was playing, but she still had one or two cards she could play to win the hand, and she had all intentions to take advantage of them.

"Captain, I don't think punching her is going to work…" Kraglin oh-so-helpfully pointed out behind them, but neither of them seemed to hear him, focused as they now were on an intense match of staring at each other with the most menacing glare – well, _Yondu_ was glaring, Eyien was merely staring at him with a raised brow and a shit eating grin on her face.

"Yeah, Cap, listen to your man. Punching me is _useless_ " she kept on teasing, "I actually like it rough" she blurted out intentionally, taking a step forward into his personal space. "Question is, _do you_?" she asked, smirking in satisfaction when he was the one to take a step back.

"If I can't punch 'er, what do ya suggest we do with her?" he muttered annoyingly as he whirled towards his subordinate.

"Well, she doeas have a ten thousand units bounty on her head that was issued by the Nova Prime herself, meaning we could always turn her in if you want to get rid of her" Kraglin explained, showing him the info of said bargain on the holo pad he'd been holding onto since he appeared on the bridge.

"Or" he went on as Yondu examined the details of the bounty, his eyes shifting back up to Kraglin when he spoke again "we could keep her on board and make use of her talent. I know for sure there's nothing and no one she isn't able to track down" the man said.

At his words Eyien felt her blood freeze in her veins.

Why would he even suggest _that_? And why in the Seven Realms was Yondu looking like he was _considering_ it?!

 _No._

 _Nope._

 _No way._

 _Uh uh._

 _Not happening._

 _Not now._

 _Not ever!_

She was swearing profusely as she watched with blown eyes the two men stare at each other, a sort of understanding flowing between them.

She _had_ to switch to plan B, now!

" _Or_!"she interjected loudly to make sure she was heard. When they turned to look at her, she continued. "Or, you could _use_ me as a bargain chip to get what you _really_ want!" she hurried to add, hoping that her hinting was enough to get his full attention.

"Watcha talking about?" Yondu asked, eyes narrowing as he regarded her with suspicion.

"I know you, know what you did. _Hell_ , every Ravager knows what you did! Abducting Quill from Terra you broke the one rule our company has, and you have been an outcast ever since you decided to keep the boy on board. But, there's one thing Stakar is itching to get his hands on, and that thing is me. He didn't take well to my desertion, just as much as I didn't appreciate _his betrayal._ So see, if you manage to get me to him, you'd be doing both of us a favor; he'll be getting what he wants, and in return he'll owe you. How's that sound?" she asked finally.

After she was done talking, Yondu kept looking at her silently, suspicion clear in his blue eyes as he mulled over everything she had just told him.

She knew it wasn't an easy thing to swallow, especially not coming from a random thief they had caught stealing one of their ships, but oddly enough, she was telling them the truth. She did that, from time to time, when it would be beneficial to her, mostly. And this _was_ a desperate kind of situation, after all.

She had no intention whatsoever to go back being a Ravager. She was done with that life, she would not deal with their apparent lack of a conscience and hygiene for one more day in her life.

Eyien was her own woman now, had been for long enough to value her freedom and all the privileges that came with it.

Sure, she was no less of a criminal in her currently line of work, but at least now she could decide what jobs to turn down and which she could accept.

She also made far more units on her own.

"Is what she said true?" he asked Kraglin, who was already typing away on his pad, probably looking for some information that could confirm her words.

"Something did go wrong between her Stakar, but I'd have to ask around to make sure" the man replied, his eyes glued to the screen.

" 'aight, lassie" Yondu began, rounding on her with the same unexpected speed as before. "I'll take it. If you are telling me the truth, we are good for now" he announced, standing in front of her with his hands on his hips, flashing the yaka arrow to make a statement.

The smirk returned on her face quickly, and she shoved her hands forward.

"Take these off, and we'll shake on it" she chirped smugly, satisfaction flooding her as her restraint came off her wrists.

She twisted them a couple times, savoring her freedom before she offered her right hand to him.

Yondu took it without hesitation, his hand gripping her steadily.

"You made yourself a deal, Yondu Udonta" she confirmed, shaking his hand with just as much strength.

 _Now all I have to do is get out of here before you find Stakar_.

* * *

Since this is my first time venturing in Marvel universe, please let me know if you find some discrepancies in what I wrote, I'm open to all kinds of feedbacks!


	3. C H A P T E R T H R E E

CHAPTER 3

SPACE – UNKNOWNLOCATION – Yondu's Mothership

Kraglin was the one who guided her back out the bridge and around the ship to find her a decent accommodation that was secure enough from other Ravagers, and at the same time, impossible to escape from unseen. Because, to him, it was clear as day that Eyien was already working on running away before they could reach Stakar.

"Well, you certainly thought of everything, didn't you?" Eyien commented once they'd reach the room she would be staying in. She gave a look of disdain at the three sentinel cameras that overlooked the entrance of the room, scoffing at the effort.

"You know I can disable them in under a minute, right?" she scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Like I'm also aware that you are going to try to escape, which is why I gave you this room. You'll be seen before you can even think of reaching the docking bay" Kraglin explained, his pose mirroring hers.

They were friends once, the kind of friends who meet up once in a while to get the occasional drink and catch up; he had admired her skills since day one, and Eyien had told him how she'd pick them up through the years, before and during her stay with the Ravagers. He had been saddened when the news of her disappearance had come through, he even though she was dead.

Which was apparently not the case.

"Should we bet on it, then? If I can escape from this ship and reach my destination at the first try, I'm free to go, if I get caught then I'll accept to work for your Captain until we find Stakar. Deal?" she asked, her confidence painted clear on every feature of her violet skin.

Kraglin hesitated for a moment; Eyien was good at what she did, she was probably one of the best at her job, and their systems weren't exactly state of the art, which meant she had all the tools she needed to send their cameras black for as long as she wished, and they would never know. But the ship was filled at the brim with people, it was almost impossible to walk around without crossing somebody else, and the room was the farthest they had from any of the docking bays…he probably had an insurance in place, because if he took the bet and Eyien disappeared, it would be on his head.

"Fine, deal" he conceded at last, shaking her hand like his Captain had done.

"You will regret this" she said, smirking, as she let go of his hand and retreaded back in the room, the door swishing close behind her.

Kraglin sighed before he, too, turned back and disappeared through the corridors.

Maybe he would camp out in the control room, just to be sure nothing happened.

Eyien let herself fall into the bed, her head hitting the pillow with a dull thud, and she immediately regretted all the choices she had made in the past two days. The small and sparse room could not compare at all with the spacious and luxurious suites she had got accustomed to…

And the smell!

She grimaced as she took in a deep breath, the smell of metal, rust, dust, oil, unwashed bodies…it was everywhere, it clang to every particle of air in the ship and it was already driving her crazy.

She gave herself five minutes to relax, free her mind for a moment, and elaborate an escape plan.

First thing she needed to do, was to call Fay.

Her equipment had been momentarily confiscated, and she doubted anyone would return it any time soon, sadly, but she did have other methods to work with. Namely, her visor.

No one ad had bothered to search her for any devices or weapons, and so she still had her own communicator and access to the net.

She activated the visor with her right forefinger, and the yellow screen appeared in front of her eye. A minute later she had placed a call through a secure channel.

"This is Fay, how can I –" xir voice replied as the call was accepted.

Eyien cut him off almost immediately.

"Hey Fay, it's Eyien" she said, waiting for a second as she heard her friend push some buttons on the other side of the line. Two seconds later xir yellow face appeared on the visor's screen.

"Hey Yin, is everything alright? Are you back to base yet?" xe asked, xir eyes scanning her background curiously.

She sighed.

"Sadly, no. I had a run in with some friends along the way…it turned out I _accidentally_ stole one of their ships, and the Captain was adamant about getting it back. So, for the time being, I'm their _guest_ " she explained, emphasizing the last word for effect.

Fay's orange eyes were wide in shock.

"You mean you got yourself captured by the Ravagers? Yin, you are in so much shit right now!" xe yelled over the line, making her grimace at the shrill sound in her ear.

"I know, which is why I called you. I'm on board Yondu Udonta's ship, and I need you to lock on my position and tell me how far I am from Knowhere. I will think about the rest. The last time this guys upgraded their security system I was still a babe, and I'm getting close to a hundred" she scoffed at the last part, managing to steal a chuckle from her friend.

"Fine, fine. Give me five minutes and I should be able to pin point your location. Also, if you could use your magic finger, I can give you a scan of the ship" xe said, once more enjoying the little double entendre.

"I'm on it" Eyien replied, raising to a seated position. She brought her left hand in front of her face, and then methodically proceeded to unscrew her little finger. The faux finger came off easily, and she proceeded to plant the little device on the floor of her room.

"Done, it's all yours my friend" Eyien confirmed, laying back down on the bed.

"Perfect, signal received. I'll call you back when I have everything" xe announced, and the call ended.

Ten minutes later, Eyien was looking at an holo of the ship's blueprints while cursing under her breath. The way to the closest hangar was way longer than she had anticipated, and if that wasn't enough, Fay had notified her that the ship was currently forty clicks away from her destination. Which was _perfect_ , really.

She scowled some more while she tried to come up with a definite plan.

It was kind of simple: she would deactivate the cameras by feeding them a faux stream of images already prerecorded, so that she could move under their eyes unnoticed and make her way to the nearest docking bay. There she would take one of the ships, override the commands of the bay doors, and then take off. But not before installing a covering program on the ship, to avoid a repeat of the first time.

There was just a small _detail_ hindering her: the ship was crawling with people everywhere at every given moment. She had forgotten just how large a clan could get if left unchecked, and Yondu's was a prime example of that. Too many people, too little chance to be sure of everyone's loyalty.

 _I was loyal to Stakar once, look how that turned out.._ she thought bitterly, turning the holo projection off.

Normally, after a bet like the one she had made with Kraglin, she'd prepare a most grand exit just too show off that she could, but her current situation required a hundred percent rate of success, no less. Which meant she'd have to do it the old fashioned way: during the night cycle, and as quietly as possible.

Eyien spent the time until the beginning of the night cycle by studying up the blueprints, just to make extra sure not to get lost on her way out and avoid turning the wrong corner.

When the lights went out to mark the start of the night, Eyien still waited a couple of hours before she set her plan to start.

The first thing to go were the cameras, which network she had managed to infiltrate in less than thirty seconds (Kraglin should _really_ offer her a drink, she was just too awesome). Someone would have to look really hard to notice the half second of static before the recording went on, and she didn't count on it. Not many tech specialists on board, she guessed.

That done, it was time for the difficult part.

Her door opened on an empty corridor, and Eyien took a step outside carefully, minding her steps not to make too much noise.

Turning her visor on, she set it to show the quickest way to the docking bay, and then she was off. The first turn revealed another empty hallway, the only noises she could hear were those of the engines, humming away somewhere below.

She thought it a bit odd that she had yet to run into anyone, but took her luck where she could find it.

When the stairs appeared, she recognized her halfway checkpoint and felt relief wash over her; now all that was left was go down, pass the baths – which she was sure would be empty, if she had to judge by the smell that still hovered in her nose – and then sneak in the bay. She would be out in space before anyone could be the wiser.

Eyien took a good look around to make sure she was alone, and then she was off, walking down the stairs trying to be as silent as her boots on hard metal could be. When she touched the ground of the lower floor, silence still reigned in the air. It was getting even more weird, but she pushed her suspects to the back of her mind, focusing on the last stretch of corridor; she could already see the doors of the bay from where she was standing.

Freedom was afoot.

A victorious smirk was already painting itself on her lips when a high-pitched whistle rang in the air. Suddenly, Eyien was standing unmoving, frozen, feeling the tip of an arrow poke at the nape of her neck, just below the cut of her hair.

 _Oh boy._

"Fancy seeing you here, lassie. Going somewhere?"

At the sound of Yondu's voice coming from behind, Eyien felt herself go stiff first, and then completely lax. A chuckle left her lips, and for a second she just laughed at how fucking cruel her fate was.

"Nowhere in particular, just exploring. Also, I'm fucking hungry" she replied cheekily, taking a step forward before she turned around. The yaka arrow was still floating in front of her, and she admired the weapon for a second before her eyes swiped up to its owner.

Yondu had clearly just got out of the bathroom, a towel (that looked more like a rag than anything) hanging around his neck, and Eyien caught herself staring at his bare torso, his blue skin still damp from the shower.

"Kitchen's up that way" he said casually, but his weapon remained put. He was waiting for her to make a move.

Eyien shrugged.

"Ah, I see. I'll be on my way then" she excused herself, sidestepping the arrow and making a move for the stairs.

 _Fucking hell_.

She'd been so close!

Why had she run into the only fucking Ravager that knew how to use a shower, of all people?!

"Not so fast, lassie" he interjected her, holding out a hand.

Eyien stopped, her feet responding to his command even without the threat of the arrow in her face.

Not good.

"Yes?" she asked, smiling naively.

"I wanna know what happened with you and Stakar. I've never heard of anyone leaving his command willingly, you're the first" he said, and his voice made it clear he was not about to receive a no for an answer. He wanted his curiosity fulfilled, understandably so, but Eyien was not about to relive any of the events that had led to leave the Ravagers. Not then, not ever. It was old news, water under the bridge. She was done with it.

"And I'd like to know how come you're the only mercenary that likes water; but, alas, certain mysteries are meant to remain so" she droned, her eyes lazily running up and down his body, blatantly checking him out. He wasn't exactly a _youngster_ , he was probably closer to her in age that she would likely care to admit, but a life of strain and work had made his body toned and muscled, and he filled his clothes nicely.

When her gaze returned on his face, she could see that he was almost uncomfortable, and Eyien wondered just how unused to attention and flirting he actually was.

"I wasn't askin' lassie" he said, his voice dropping menacingly as he stepped closer.

Eyien arched her eyebrows at him, cocked her head to one side, like she was thinking about something, and then shrugged.

"And I wasn't answering" she replied, hands nestling in the pockets of her bomber as she started to walk away.

When she was about to pass him, he reached out with one hand and yanked her back by the neck of her jacket. Eyien's body jerked forward and then backwards, her bomber falling from her shoulders, revealing the tank top she was wearing underneath, and the holster strapped over it.

"I don't have the patience for your games, lassie! We made a deal, and you _will-_ " his words died in his throat as he saw just exactly what was strapped to her back.

Shining silver and red under the dim lights of the corridor, an arrow not unlike his own rested in its holster on her back.

Suddenly, the atmosphere around them changed, and the air became heavy and charged with something she couldn't quite place.

"Where'd you get this?" he asked, clearly taken aback from what he just saw. It wasn't an everyday occasion that he incurred in someone else who was able to use to yaka arrows like he did, and deep down he was torn between being annoyed at her and being somewhat reassured about her.

"It's a family heirloom…it belonged to my mother, and my sister before me" Eyien told him quietly, every trace of defiance or cockiness gone from her voice; even her whole demeanor had changed, she was slumping, her head bowed forward, with her bangs covering her red eyes.

"And you know how to use it?" Yondu asked, observing with mild confusion as her ears changed color, getting a few shades darker than her natural violet skin tone.

"I uh- …not really" Eyien confessed. She couldn't remember how many decades it had been since the last time she'd felt this ashamed for something she had no power over.

In the last ten years or so she had spent countless hours trying to attune her melodies to the arrow, but it seemed the weapon was still weeping its former owner, and had no intentions to take on to her. She'd been angry at first because of it, then sad, then simply resigned. The arrow reacted to her only in deeply stressful situations, and even then, it didn't do a whole lot.

"Didn't they teach you?" he asked her, and Eyien was surprised to hear an edge of _something_ in his voice.

"They…weren't around by the time I got this. I kind of had to improvise, so…" she trailed off, fixing her bomber back up, hiding the holster from sight.

Eyien sighed, long and hard, pushing the thoughts of her mother and sister away where they couldn't hurt her anymore. She knew she couldn't run forever, especially if she really was going to see Stakar eventually, but she'd ignore it for as long as she could.

"May I?"

Eyien turned her head to see him reach out is right hand, and she found herself frowning. Handing over her arrow seemed too personal of an action, and she remembered how Yondu had retracted his when she had tried to touch it.

"Sorry, I don't think it's a good idea" she replied, a small polite smile making its way on her lips.

There was a small pause before Eyien was back to her usual snarky self, and her body naturally assumed its casual poise.

"Now, can you point me in the direction of the kitchen again? You guys gotta feed me if I am to stay on your ship" she remarked, smirking smugly when Yondu had to blink twice at her change of attitude.

It was always a good tactic to throw people off, and it did nicely for a mask to hide behind.

"Up the stairs, take the first right" he answered, a bit dumbfounded.

"Thanks Cap" she mockingly saluted before hurrying off.

Her smile immediately dropped once she was out of sight, replaced by a sour scowl.

She had failed, and now she had to wait and change her plans.

If she couldn't run unnoticed, then she just had to make them trust her, and then get the fuck away at the first opportunity she found herself planet-side.

The next morning, when she stepped inside the bridge, Kraglin welcomed her with a sigh of relief and a smug grin.

She was still there, meaning her escape plan had failed.

"Don't smile at me, I almost had it and you didn't even notice" she said as a greeting when she came up to him, her hands buried in her jacket's pockets.

"So you say, but here you are" he replied cheekily, earning a good natured shove from the woman.

"Yeah, so here I am" she mused out loud, a touch of sourness coloring her voice.

"We should see to your clothes later, if you are to stay" Kraglin commented after giving her a once over, his eyes examining critically her black bomber, which sported a red stripe along her right arm and a red logo over her heart that read _N7_.

"Fuck you Kraglin, I'm not wearing that shit you call clothes" Eyien grunted, arms crossing over her chest.

She _loathed_ leather, it didn't go well with her curves and it made her sweaty. She would go and hug Thanos before anyone would force her to wear any piece of clothing made of leather.

"And why the hell do y'all need to wear red? What do you think you are, a massive _boy band_?" she snorted, laughter building up in her throat as she thought of Yondu and Kraglin singing a duet wearing they're ridiculous uniforms.

"We _are_ a 'boy band'" Yondu's voice interjected from behind them, and Eyien couldn't avoid the over the top laugh that escaped her.

She was crying by the time the man came up to them, her stomach was also hurting.

"Why she laughing?" Yondu asked Kraglin, who just face-palmed himself.

"Because, apparently, we are a _boy band_ , Captain."


	4. C H A P T E R F O U R

**CHAPTER FOUR**

SPACE - UNKNOWN LOCATION - Yondu's Mothership

The first week and a half after her failed escape attempt, Eyien had managed to settle her business with Fay via the net, requesting xir to go to Knowhere in her stead, to start working on every possible lead xe could find. She might have been stuck with the Ravagers for the time being, but she certainly hadn't forgotten what had led her there; whoever had rattled her out to the Nova Corps needed to be found and dealt with. She had no love for loose ends hanging around.

Fay had assured her that xe would do whatever in xir power to come up with a name, and had even offered to launch a rescue effort once it was obvious she would not be able to leave anytime soon. Eyien had declined, knowing that xe, however skillful, would be no match against a full Ravager Clan.

She was also kind of committed to her new plan, oddly enough. The fact that she had failed the first time had only fueled her determination to come out on top. Plus, it didn't hurt that she was enjoying Kraglin's company; she had forgotten how entertaining it could get when one had a friend around. And so, as long as she stayed far from any other Ravager, she was feeling ok. Only Yondu's presence tended to make her weirdly uncomfortable, at times; on one hand, she found him rather interesting – and even mildly attractive, in all honesty – but, on the other, the fact that he knew about her yaka arrow was enough to unnerve her whenever he was near.

By the time something of interest could happen, Eyien had memorized the whole layout of the ship, studied – and copied – every single access code possible, and was steadily going crazy with both inaction and claustrophobia. Yes, the ship was big enough not feel trapped, but at the end of the day she still was a prisoner, and was not allowed to leave the base at any moment. It had been a mere week, and already she missed breathing fresh, un-recycled air.

The ship was dirty, old, full of untrustworthy, unwashed mercenaries, and she had never missed a bath tub so much in her entire life.

She was in the process of polishing her yaka arrow – an exercise in futility, really – when a knock came to the door. She hurried to put away and hide the weapon before she punched in the access code and the metal panels slid back in place. On the other side of the now opened door, Kraglin was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and skeptic eyes.

"Did you change the access code to your door?" he asked.

Eyien grinned in return.

"Of course I did. Couldn't risk one of you unwashed barbarian barging in" she replied matter-of-factly.

"Hey, you were an unwashed barbarian too, _once_!" he huffed, his chest puffing out in self-defense.

"Please, _I_ knew how to work the shower!" she scoffed back, assuming a mockingly offended face.

Kraglin chuckled, but noticed how she hadn't denied her mercenary past; maybe being on board again had started to rub off on her, after all. He hoped so, at least. There was nothing like working on a job alongside the Tracer.

"Yet here you are, still wearing the same clothes as a week ago" he pointed out, settling down on her bed as he watched her fiddle with something in her bag. They had given it back to her some days before, and he had not been surprised when, out of it, she produced a number of electronic devices. It was a given that she wouldn't go around without her toys.

" _Excuse me_ , but I had to leave Xandar on a rush; didn't really have time to pack my things on the way out" she explained, zipping the duffle bag close.

She had already managed to wash her clothes once or twice, but the lack of a fresh change was one of the reasons she was starting to feel restless.

'Civilian' life had really changed her in the years, but she was not going to complain.

"What happened exactly? It's not like you to do sloppy work" Kraglin thought out loud.

Eyien sighed and straightened, her hands resting on her hips.

" _Thank you_. I did a job involving the Nova Prime and got screwed over in the process. Someone must have rattled me out to the authorities, because they were able to track me down where I was staying at. I had to get out quickly, which is why I stole the ship in the first place. I was so on a hurry that I didn't even think to install a jamming device on it…" she told him, the very thought still unsettling. She was still very much pissed at herself for that little error, but the thing that grated on her more than anything was that Fay had been on radio silence since their last communication over three days before.

She was literally itching for answers.

"And you have no idea on who might have done it?"

She shook her head, her long bangs swinging left and right with the movement.

"Not really. My clients all come to me through secure channels, but I never had one dissatisfied with my work. No, this is either competition or someone who will benefit with me behind bars" she reasoned, one hand nervously running through her short hair. She was struggling with the idea that one of her clients could have sold her out, because that meant that she hadn't done her job properly, and that was unacceptable to her. After all, one of her most advertised features was her precision and perfectionist nature, she would _never_ leave a traceable trail behind, not unless she wanted it there.

Nothing else made sense to her.

"And I suppose you are already working on it?" he asked innocently, testing the waters.

He was getting at something, but he was going rather slowly.

"Of course I am. It would have been quicker if you guys hadn't virtually kidnapped me, but I'll manage" she added nonchalantly, as if the fact that they were going to give her off to Stakar was of no relevance to her. And it really wasn't, she still was determined to get the hell out before it happened, but they didn't really need to know that, did they?

"My bad, would you prefer to be rotting away on some prison-asteroid?" Kraglin asked, annoyed, as he settled more comfortably on the bed.

"Yeah, because going back to Stakar is just peachy" she scoffed at him, arms crossing over her chest.

"I'm sure that if you prove your worth to Yondu he'll consider letting you stay with us" the Ravager threw there casually, shrugging his shoulders. He was not looking at her, his eyes focused on a loose thread pocking out of the covers.

"And you think he's going to pass an opportunity to get back in Stakar's good graces? I doubt it" she countered, switching her weight from one hip to the other.

"Don't tell him I told you so, but the Captain has a good heart. I'm sure you can work out something with him, last I heard he had taken quite the shine on you" Kraglin confessed, switching his eyes back up to gauge her reaction to his words.

He frowned when he noticed that Eyien had practically frozen where she stood, her eyes open and her mouth ajar. Her muscles seemed made out of stone.

Why did she look so distressed at the idea? Wasn't it good that Yondu had taken an interest in her? That way she had leverage on him, leverage she could use to get out of their agreement. He would hate to see her let herself be used as pawn in Ravagers politics, especially because he had been one of the many that had supported Yondu when he had decided to keep Peter instead of giving him back to his father, meaning he was fine with the way things were as of the moment.

At the same time, Eyien's head was raging with the knowledge that she had attracted the man's attention to the extent that he was now _interested_ in her! It was pretty obvious that it was her arrow's fault, since he found out about it he had tried to question her about it more than once, but she had no intentions on giving in on the subject. She was not going to share the story behind it, nor she was going to ask him for help with it. But, despite her reservations, the more rational part of her knew she needed to earn his trust in order to get off the damn ship, so what better opportunity?

She was displeased when she came to that realization, but her face quickly molded her features in a cheeky smile, her uncertainty and panic secured behind a solid door.

"Has he now? Was it my undeniable charm or my incredible sense of humor that endeared me to him?" she asked smugly, successfully deflecting Kraglin confusion at her earlier reaction. As predicted, the mercenary snorted in amusement at her joke, quickly forgetting her faux pas.

"Whatever the reason, he requested your specific help for a new job that came in. Which is why I came by in the first place, actually" he explained, raising from the bed once he remembered the reason behind his visit.

"What's it about?" she questioned, already frowning in suspicion at the novelty.

"Come with me to the bridge and we'll be briefed" he replied, his feet already moving for the door.

Eyien groaned a little inwardly, but ultimately followed him out, aware that she may has well have already stumbled on her chance to get the hell out of there.

The bridge was almost empty when they entered, save from the two pilots and two Ravagers Eyien did not recognize; the two men were talking with Yondu about something, but he dismissed them as soon as he noticed them approach, waving Eyien and Kraglin to where he was standing next to a holo-table.

"So, I got wind that an artifact I've been looking for has finally resurfaced on the market" Yondu announced once they made it over. He was looking at a picture of a book floating in front of him, and Eyien arched an eyebrow at the sight.

"Didn't picture you for a reader" she commented off-handedly, crossing her arms as she stopped next to the table; the picture she was staring at looked mildly familiar, but she couldn't say for certain why.

"This ain't a normal book, it's an actual Kree sacred text" he explained, immediately peeking her curiosity.

"I thought it was impossible to find those outside the Empire! Also very illegal to have one" she said, and it was clear she was more interested in the idea than worried about it. Messing with the Kree was something she was not very keen on doing, especially after Ronan, but the thief inside of her was already rubbing her hands in anticipation.

"That's correct. This one is something I personally stole, got taken from me years ago, disappeared. It's the first time I hear about it" he said, hands gripping the edge of the table.

She was itching to know the story behind it, but a glance at his tense stance made her rethink it. If he wanted to share the details, he would; or she would coax them out of him eventually.

"I'm assuming you want it back, right?" Eyien asked, and when he nodded, seemingly still wrapped up in his own thoughts, she continued. "Where is it then?"

"Yeah, that's why you're here, lassie. My contact just heard rumors of an auction taking place somewhere. I need you to find where it's going to be, and get us in" he elaborated, eyes turning to look at her.

Eyien huffed.

"Is that it? I can do it with my eyes closed" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Then get working, I ain't got all eternity" Yondu snapped at her, making her flinch.

"Geez, fine. You'll have a location and invite in an hour" she deadpanned before storming off of the bridge.

Exactly an hour later – and Eyien had timed it that way, just too be petty – the door to the bridge opened again, and she found Kraglin and Yondu deep in conversation still standing next to the table.

"Alright gentlemen, I've got good news, and bad news. What do you want first?"she announced, making a very clichéd entrance. The two men cut off whatever they were talking about abruptly, and both turned in her direction.

"Some good news would be welcome…" Kraglin sighed, a hand rubbing circles in his temples, trying to banish the headache that was steadily building itself in his head.

"As you wish"

With a swipe of her forefinger on the pad she was holding, a map appeared in front of them, floating on the holo-table.

"The auction is going to take place in three days in Yhita, on the planet Astra. It's been hold by a Mr. Arklyt, a renowned collector of black market's artifacts. While he isn't as well known as The Collector, he has a reputation of dealing _only_ with wealthy people. And here's where the bad news comes in" she explained, taking a pause for effect as another image appeared on the table. "There is a fee of five thousand units only to get in, which is actually no problem since I faked the deposit for us three, but the invite is quite clear: black tie required" she finished, already mildly cringing at the prospect of bringing those two shopping.

Their reaction was not what she'd expected, and she watched in confusion as the two men shared a glance at each other, and then at their clothes respectively.

"Do we have somethin' clean in the stash?" Yondu asked after inspecting his own gear.

"We should have a couple outfits, yes" Kraglin replied, contemplating what was left that they could wear.

"You're kidding right? You'll never get in like _that_ " Eyien cut in, eyeing the both critically.

When they turned to look at her, she was staring back with a glare.

"Why? What's wrong with our clothes?" Yondu asked, and Eyien felt the universe drop on her.

 _Fucking mercenaries…_ she cursed in her head, sighing in defeat.

"The fact that you have to ask should tell you all you need to know" she groaned, exasperated. Why hadn't she stolen the ship of some wealthy, well dressed and refined lost prince? She would gladly play the part of the pet if it meant getting off that blasted ship…

"Well, she's not exactly wrong, Captain…" Kraglin finally conceded in her favor, self consciously looking down at his clothes.

"Fine! I expect you have some ideas, lassie."

 _Well, that went better than I anticipated…_

"As a matter of fact, I do" she started, already typing away on her pad as she continued speaking. "We are going to stay at Yhita's Grand Palace, and I'm bringing you two shopping. The auction will take place in Arklyt's villa, just outside the city; we just need to settle how we're going to retrieve this book of yours and set in place a way out, and we're good" she explained, all the way pulling up information on the holo screen. When she was done, she couldn't avoid the devious smile painting itself on her full lips; they were going to do this her way, she was going to have fun, and then she'd leave them in the dust and no one would be the wiser. It all checked out.

"This is going to be… _interesting_ " Kraglin commented, his voice holding a note of slight preoccupation that only fueled Eyien's enthusiasm.

"Look at the bright side, you'll get to shower!" she added sarcastically, earning a glare in return.

 _Yup, definitely fun!_

YHITA - ASTRA

"Come on, would you please get out of there?!" Eyien breathed out in frustration for the tenth time in twenty minutes.

"Uh uh lassie, I ain't going nowhere dressed like this!" Yondu yelled back from inside the room, again.

Eyien was quickly reaching the end of her patience, and they hadn't even left the Hotel yet.

The trip from the Mothership to Astra had gone pretty smoothly despite the absence of any real privacy on board of Yondu's personal ship – yes, the very one she had stolen – and they had managed to come up with a pretty decent plan to 'obtain' the relic undetected. Eyien had contacted Fey, and even though xe hadn't been able to give her any tangible information on their ongoing investigation, xe had been very useful in setting up contacts on xir home world. A man named Xander had picked them up at the space port, escorted them at the hotel without asking any question, and was to return to drive them to the villa where the auction would take place. Eyien didn't really need directions, but she had agreed that having a man on the outside would be useful.

With that taken care of, she had proceeded to buy them all clothes via the net as they travelled, making sure that the two tuxes and her dress would be delivered directly to their rooms. Everything had gone pretty smoothly, up until the point they were to leave.

"Kraglin, get your Captain out of this room or I swear I'm going to shoot the door down!" she growled, her foot tapping nervously on the wooden floor with the plateau of her shoe.

Next to her, Kraglin sighed in defeat. He was wearing the same outfit as his boss, a black and white tux of the latest fashion, with a black jacket fastened on one side of his chest, black trousers and black formal shoes. While he was far from used to be dressed so formally, he had been born and raised on Xandar, and for him it was not so alien a look. Yondu, on the other hand, did not have that privilege, and the moment he had seen himself in the mirror, the mercenary had refused to get out of the room. He felt utterly ridiculous, and he didn't understand why they had to go through the whole charade to get to the book. It would have been easier to just storm the place with gun blazing – or whistling, in his case – and be done with it. But Eyien had insisted on doing it her way (she had been very vocal and very persuasive, actually), and now he was drawing the line.

"Captain, please come out? We need to be going" he tried, but received only silence in return.

"That's it, I'm coming in!" Eyien warned him, extracting the portable keyboard from the clutch she was holding in her hand.

"Lassie, don't-" he started, but his threat died in the air; before he could even finish whatever he was about to say, the door opened with a satisfying click.

Hacking into hotel security was easier than stealing candy from a baby, literally.

The elegant double door opened onto the living space of an expensive suite that mirrored her own, and Eyien lost no time in barging in, hills clicking on the parquet as she searched the room for the annoying man. She found him standing in the middle of the room, hands firmly placed on his hips, and the most sour expression she had ever seen on a man's face. He was downright brooding, his red eyes flaming and his mouth downturned in the worst of grimaces. His cheeks were also a shade darker than normal, and she was startled to realize that he was quite embarrassed.

But Eyien's attention was quickly shifted elsewhere as she noted just how right the fabric clang to his shoulders and stretched on his chest, the cut of the jacket complimenting his silhouette in a way his leather uniform, however tight, never could. The trousers were also a perfect fit, cutting just right on his ankles, showing off the intricate design of the shoes.

At the sight, her stomach turned on itself, and she swore she felt her pulse flutter for half a second.

"Ah, would you look at that; you actually look presentable!" she teased, defusing whatever tension had start to build in the room, and pointedly ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.

"I look _ridiculous_ " he seethed, crossing in his arms in defense.

"I admit it is an odd look on you, but you do look rather fetching. Those scars of yours make you look like a scary criminal mastermind" she chuckled, taking a step forward in his personal space. He froze as her hands came up to fix a button that had come undone.

"There. Now try only grunting in reply when people talk to you, and you'll be perfect" she said, smiling quite cheekily at him.

She took a step back to admire her handy work one last time, and as her eyes swiped his figure, she remembered she had one more thing to finish his outfit.

"Here, put this on and we are ready to leave" Eyien prompted, fishing a pair of rounded sunglasses out of her purse. It was another pair she had bought at a random stall on a whim, and it was on another whim that she had tweaked them to suit a very specific task.

Yondu frowned slightly at the accessory, but slipped the glasses on nonetheless. He couldn't avoid his surprise once the lenses where propped over his eyes and the world completely changed colors.

"Where'd'ya find this things?" he asked, clearly pleased with the small gadget.

"I made them, of course" she replied dismissively as she passed the golden string of her purse over her shoulder. When she turned to leave the room, her dress shifted along with her, barely brushing the floor but not quite touching it. As the two men, she too was dressed for the occasion; and even though she was usually one for pants rather than skirts, she knew how to chose a proper dress. The one she was wearing was the color of ivory, floor length, with a not overly wide skirt and a geometrical play over the chest made with hard fabrics cut in stripes that came down in a downward triangle from the back, crossing with an horizontal line just under her breast and an _x_ over it under the neck. It was simple, yet original enough to stand out in a crowd, which was her end goal. Also, it was the perfect length to hide the arrow she had strapped to her tight as a last resource.

When she reached the corridor, she stopped to wait for them, turning just over the shoulder to stare at her chaperons.

"Hurry up, gentlemen, we have a relic to steal!"


	5. C H A P T E R F I V E

**CHAPTER 5**

MR. ARKLYT' S VILLA - YHITA

Their plan was, in theory, relatively easy: get in, mingle for a while, shut down the power, steal the book, get out. In practice, they had only a vague idea of the complete layout of the place, and no certain knowledge of where the relic would be while it waited to be auctioned. That was the reason why they had to mingle; people loved to talk and tell everyone everything they knew if it meant boasting their knowledge over someone else's ignorance. With a little push here and there, there were pretty high chances they would find out what they needed with little to no hustle. They also had a cover to keep them safe, and she made sure to remind the two men about it as Xander drove them through the traffic and towards the Villa.

Eyien was going in as herself, as she was quite known for her freelance work and it wouldn't be suspicious of her to be there; she would partake in the auction on behalf of an imaginary client, biding their time as Kraglin, who was to be her plus one, would try to slip out unnoticed to the maintenance room and cut the power. Yondu was the muscles, obviously. He would be introduced as her personal bodyguard, and he would be the one to steal the book once the lights were down; hence the glasses he was wearing. They all were also wearing earpieces, Xander as well, so that they could communicate easily throughout the whole thing.

When the car passed through the gates, Eyien was momentarily stunned at the sight of the Villa; not many remained from so long ago, having been replaced by sky high building all made out of glass and steel, and the few that still stood were either museums or abandoned. It was her first time setting foot in one, and she imagined that it must have been the same for her two companions. When she turned to them, as the car gently rolled in the driveway, she saw her own same expression mirrored on Kraglin's face. He was from Xandar, too, and she knew for a fact that there was not one building like this one on the whole planet. What surprised her, though, was the expressionless features on Yondu's face. He seemed almost bored with the magnificent architecture, the rich details and the grandeur of the gardens that surrounded them, as if it was a view he had seen a million times before.

The car stopped at the front entrance before she could comment on it, and so she filed the information away to be examined later. Once her heeled feet touched the gravel, she wasn't just Eyien anymore, she was Eyien Vlitch, the tracer, freeloader extraordinaire. Her whole demeanor shifted from wide-eyed ex-citement, to cool professionalism, and when she walked past the entrance, flanked by the two men, her whole being exuded confidence and competence. She was there to succeed, no other outcome would be accepted.

Her design shoes ticked on the marble floor as she approached the man dressed in black standing in front of the main hall double doors.

He eyed her and her companions behind his visor, taking a few seconds to make sure they were on the guest list, and then nodded, opening the door for them.

Eyien strolled confidently in the room, definitely fashionably late if the stares she received were anything to go by. She smirked at the crowd that welcomed them, her eyes already scanning for familiar faces; she recognized a few here and there, and she made a mental note to engage them before the end of the night. Just because she was there for Yondu didn't mean she couldn't work on her own investigation in the meantime.

A cute Kylorean waiter walking in front of her caught her attention for a moment, and she waved at him to retrieve three chalices from his trail before he disappeared in the crowd again.

"Let's toast gentlemen, to a job well done" she prompted, smiling as she twirled around to them. She handed them the chalices with a smile, raising hers when her hands where free.

"We haven't even started, why we toastin'?" Yondu replied skeptically, raising his glass nonetheless to meet hers halfway.

"Because I'm the Tracer, of course" she said matter-of-factly, clinking her glass with Kraglin's, who just chuckled while shaking his head. He remembered this tradition of hers, had partaken in it on more than one occasion, and true to her words, she had never failed one job.

"We'll see lassie. I'll celebrate once you got ma' book" the mercenary shrugged her off, downing whatever bubbling drink she had snatched from the waiter. The liquid went down his throat like it was water, and already his distaste grew louder. It wasn't enough that he had to be dressed like a fuckin' prostitute, the place had to be a bloody villa so similar to the ones his masters used to have…

Bitterness was the only thing he could feel at the moment, his hands itching at the prospect of the many hours that he had to still endure before it was all done.

"Should we get started? I feel like a walk around the room will give us an idea of how many guards are in this place" she proposed after finishing her own drink.

Kraglin offered her his arm in reply, and she happily hooked her own through his, resting her hand in the crook of his elbow. Yondu trailed behind them, his look threatening enough to keep away the most annoying of the people.

They moved towards the center of the room, and immediately his eyes picked off three clearly armed guards standing in front of the pompous staircase leading to the upper floor. Eyien noticed them too, but also recognized a couple faces that were clearly guards despite their attire. It should have been a given that there would be some mixed with the guests, but she was confident she'd have all picked out before an hour could pass.

"Eyien Vlitch, you incredibly filthy bitch, is that you?" a voice popped up from their right, and three heads turned to watch a clearly Astran man strode towards them with purpose guiding his steps.

Eyien eyes lit in recognition, and she stepped forward to meet him with a glowing smile on her painted lips.

"Jazz! You son of a whore! What the hell are you doing here?!" she laughed, draping her arms around her friend in a hug.

Jazz squeezed her back with eagerness, his face openly and pleasantly surprised.

"I could ask you the same question, you rascal! Last time I saw you, you disappeared without saying good-bye! And now the first thing I hear after years, is about that massive bounty on your head!"

Eyien huffed a laughter at his bewilderment, patting his shoulder amicably.

"Yeah, I know, I know. I've had some pretty shitty luck lately" she said, throwing a side glance at both Yondu and Kraglin, who were still standing a way back where she had left them.

"I wouldn't call those bad luck, if you know what I mean" he offered suggestively, basically leering at both men.

"They're certainly something" she chuckled, her eyes trailing over Yondu's frame almost involuntarily.

"Aaaah, I see. Fancy yourself a rugged man, do you now?" her friend teased her, elbowing her gently. When she whipped her head to him with a glare, he simply wiggled his perfectly drawn eyebrows at her.

"Yeah, no. Not gonna happen" she scowled.

"Mmmh c'mon, he certainly looks tasty" he went on, his eyes ranking over Yondu in an almost predatory way that made Yin shiver.

Jazz was always so forward with everything, and somehow she had forgotten just how crude he could be if left unchecked.

"Drop it Jazz, please" she begged him, trying hard not to let her façade slip with so many eyes trained on her. She had no time to think how well that suite hugged Yondu's body, she had to focus on gathering in-formation as quickly as she could.

"All right, but if you don't have anything in contrary, I'm calling dips on the pale one" he shrugged, nodding his head towards Kraglin, who noticed the movement and smiled to back politely.

"You have my blessing, now can we talk of something else? I'm in need of some info" she cut it short, making sure to have his undivided attention before he slipped away.

"Ah, I knew you weren't here purely for pleasure. Ask me, and I shall tell you what I know" Jazz offered, dipping his head at her. He was always a reliable source when it came to this sort of things; in fact Yin had met him exactly while digging around in search of some information. Since that day, she hadn't relied on any other broker, if she could.

"Do you know where they are keeping the items before auctioning them? There is a certain something I have to retrieve before it gets sold out" she explained, keeping her words as vague as she could in hope not to give too much away to any wandering ear.

Jazz hummed low, amusement lacing his voice.

"Up the stairs, first door on the left. Not an easy fit you're trying to accomplish, my dear. There is quite a bit of security present, you won't be able to just waltz in there" he mused, his eyes trailing over the three armed guards she had already spotted before.

"I know, but I'm not going to just waltz in, I actually have a plan, and it's going to work. It has to" Eyien stressed, but offered no further explanation to the astran man.

"Well, I wish you luck Eyien. Just try not stain the marble if you can, it would be a pity" Jazz chuckled drily as he took off, but not before sparing a nod and a sultry look to both Yondu and Kraglin when he passed them.

Eyien followed his example, and moved back to her companions for the night.

"Got anything useful?" Kraglin asked, and she noticed he was still looking at the retreating back of Jazz. "Yes, actually. If Jazz's information are reliable, and they usually are, the items are kept in the first room on the left of the upper floor. There is a lot of security going on, but I'm sure we can handle that once the power is out. The device that I gave you should give us about five minutes before the back-up generator goes online, I trust you can take care of the guards?" she asked Yondu, who did not interrupt his brooding to give her his assent. "Good, the auction should start any minute now, I will remain in the room to avoid any suspicions, but if there's anything, feel free to contact me" she said, pointing at the ear piece they were all wearing.

"Should we get the party starting?" Kraglin asked with a smile, his every fiber ready and eager to get to work once more with Eyien. He was as excited as a kid receiving his first hooverboard, and it showed.

"By all means" Eyien replied, already moving towards a table where some more glasses had been placed for the guests. She picked one up, returned to Kraglin, and promptly threw the contents in his face.

"Get out of my sight, you filth! Next time I catch you making dealings behind my back, I'll smear the floor with your blood" Eyien hissed at him, voice loud enough to be heard through the hall. Both men blinked in confusion at her sudden burst, reacting perfectly to the scene, landing the whole charade some more credibility.

"What the-" Kraglin choked out, shock and confusion dancing all over his face.

"I think the Lady wants you to leave, boy" Yondu deadpanned, side stepping in front of her. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, his muscles rippling under the fancy fabric of the jacket as he did so. His subordinate glanced quickly between the two, both wearing impassive and unreadable expression, and caught the sparkle in Yin's eyes. He followed her cue, storming off the hall in his best impression of indignation. His feet carried him past one of the bodyguards, right in a secondary room that was appropriately empty.

After the display, murmurs started to bubble all over the hall, making Yin smirk, pleased with her work. She let go of a huff, dismissing the whole thing, and turned on her heels towards the room that would host the auction. Yondu followed closely behind, that scowl still in place over his blue features.

"Scowl a little more, and I'm sure we could intimidate the host in giving us the book without much fuss" Eyien chuckled, bending a bit towards him as they walked, taking care not to fall back next to him.

"You could always try to throw a glass in his face, too" Yondu bit back with some snark, taking her by sur-prise. She was about to reply in kind when her earpiece buzzed on, Kraglin's voice coming through loud and clear.

So, I'm not appreciating the sticky situation you put me in, but I gotta say it was well executed he pointed out, and from the way his voice was bouncing, she knew he was already getting in to position.

"Why thank you. It was my pleasure" she laughed back.

I'm making my way down right now. Shouldn't be long before I get on point. Has the auction started yet? he asked, right before the voice of the host, Mr. Arklyt, rang clearly in his ear.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you all in my humble abode. With no further ado, I'm ecstatic to present you the selection for this year!"

Eyien observed as behind the man appeared a series of holograms, each displaying the items that were going to be auctioned. Sure enough, her attention was soon captured by the 3D representation of the Sacred Texts, floating towards the front of the line; if that was the presentation order, then it meant that their book would be the third item to be put up.

"Would you look at that book! There, the third of the row. It looks absolutely intriguing!" she exclaimed out loud, seemingly to Yondu, but clearly talking to Kraglin.

Got it. Getting close! I'll give you the all clear once the device is ready to go he replied, sprinting down the ominous hallway.

If he wasn't mistaken, he had to take another bend left and…there! At the end of the corridor stood the door he was looking for.

He didn't bother knocking, he just kicked the door in like a badass, and delivered his line before any of the three guards could react:

"Sorry fellas, party's over!" he yelled, promptly dropping a gas grenade at his feet. The surprise effect was enough for him to activate his mask before the grenade went off, successfully stunning the three. Kraglin then methodically proceeded to pick them off one by one with the gun he had strapped under his armpit. The guards fell to the ground with a satisfying thud just as the gas dispersed through the air ducts.

It took him a solid minute to find the control panel he needed, letting out a victorious little cry when he finally found it.

"Alright, I'm ready to go on your mark" he said through his ear piece, taking the device Eyien had given him out of his pocket.

Do it now, we are in position she whispered back.

Kraglin positioned the little metallic box over the power controls, and immediately it started beeping, flashing red three times before it turned green. Once the color switched, she heard the distinctive sound of the power going down.

He had done his part, now it was up to Eyien and Yondu to do the rest.

The lights went off suddenly, and a wave of satisfaction washed through her as panicked screams started to spread through the salon. She quickly turned on her visor, spinning back towards Yondu.

"Here's your change Mr. Captain, don't screw it up. First door on the left up the stairs, go!" she hurried him, but he was already moving before she could finish the sentence.

A whistle resonated in the air, and Yin could clearly see the hot red trail of Yondu's arrow pirouetting deadly through the room. She took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

She couldn't afford to flunk this, she needed him to have his relic, so that she could flee when his guard was at its lowest.

Yondu, on his part, did not like to lose time. Before the girl had even finished talking, he had rushed out of the auction room, straight in to the main hall where the stairs were. Through his glasses, cleverly adapted to see in the dark, he spotted a cluster of guards all standing tensely at the mouth of the stairwell, and his cheeks instinctively hollowed, whistling low. His arrow swiftly flew out of his right sleeve where he had hidden it, and at the change of pitch, quickly changed direction, plunging directly in the first guards heart, closely followed by the second, and then the third. All of them were dead before they even realized what was going on. Necessary, useless, casualties.

He rushed up the stairs as quickly as his outfit allowed, and turned left once he was on top. Only one door stood at the end of the corridor. Another quick whistle had his yaka arrow cut through the lock as if it were made of butter, opening it right up for him.

Yondu walked inside the room with relative calm, conscious that he still had over three minutes to get the book and get the hell out.

"I'm in, I see the book. It's behind a containment field, but I can take care of it" he announced once he was in, his eyes immediately closing in on the relic. It was floating inside a blue sphere of energy, but he knew it was no match for his arrow.

Good. I'm right behind you for cover, but get it done fast Eyien replied, and he could clearly hear the sound of her heels ticking on the marble stairs.

Another whistle left his parted lips, and before he could reach the book, the shield it was contained in was already down. It fell gently to the floor, and Yondu hurried to retrieve it.

The moment his hands touched its tattered cover, and his eyes took in the details of the golden decorations sawn in to it, his mind was already far gone.

Suddenly, he was but a boy again, his hands blistered and cuffed, his back bleeding from the cuts made by the flogs, his every bone aching with such an intense pain he thought he could die at any minute.

He remembered it all, the pain, the fatigue, the misery, the torture, the abuse, the terrible works they made him do…and then the glittering houses of the Masters, all laughing and spitting on him, all believing themselves so much better than he was, a filthy slave!

Rage was boiling his blood, blinding him to everything and everyone!

He saw himself standing on top of his Masters bodies, bleeding and battered but still on his feet, victorious. He was alive, and they were not.

The book he was holding had been the catalyst to his rebellion, to his liberation.

He had stolen it during one of the rare visits to one of his Masters' houses, and when he had been con-fronted for it, when he was going to be taught a lesson for his insolence, that's when he had done it, slaughtered everyone of them with the very same arrow he still owned to this day.

"What the hell are you doing! Hurry up!" a voice yelled from somewhere at the edge of his consciousness, a voice he did not recognize. But the words did something to him, triggered something deep down, and before he was aware of what he was doing, a high pitched whistle rang in the air, the arrow responding to it with just as much violence, piercing right through Eyien's abdomen.

Yin's eyes bulged out of her orbits the second she realized what was happening.

First came the shock, then the searing pain as the arrow entered and exited her body through her stomach, and then she felt the hot trail of blood cascading down her dress, staining it a shade of purplish-red.

"Yon- du!" she managed to chortled out before her knees gave out under her and she fell with a dull thud to the ground.

The sound of his name seemed to force him out of his daze, and he watched in horror as Eyien's body touched the floor, her dress all stained with her blood.

Panic was the first thing that run through his veins at the sight.

What had he done?!

Captain! I'm out, is everything alright? The five minutes are almost down! he heard Kraglin say though the ear piece, and immediately he sprung into action.

"Bring the car 'round, quickly! Eyien is—she's down, we need to get her out of here!" he screamed back, at that point uncaring of attracting attention to himself.

If Kraglin replied to him, his words were lost on him as he hurried to put away the book before bending down to scoop the lassie up in his arms. Warm blood seeped through his fingers as he hoisted her up better, but he couldn't stop to care. He whistled for his arrow as he broke in a mad run down the stairs and through the hall, cutting down any resistance that was blocking his path.

Yondu kicked the front door open, bursting out in the cool air of the night. He spotted the car not five me-ters in front of him, and dashed towards it, jumping in as carefully as he could once the door popped open for him.

"Go, go, go!" he screamed at the driver, who barely spared a glance at them before hitting the gas hard.

The trip from the villa back to the city was a blur, the only thing he was able to concentrate on was pressing down on the wound on Eyien's abdomen, praying for the first time in decades that she would survive.


	6. C H A P T E R S I X

**CHAPTER SIX**

SAFEHOUSE – YHITA

 _The life of a mercenary is made of close calls and near death experiences, but sometimes we are not that lucky. You should make peace with it as quickly as possible._

It was what Stakar had told her, all those years ago, after she had witnessed one of theirs die on a job. At first, both shock and grief had been too strong to overcome, but with time his words had become an universal truth that applied to herself as well. Normally, it was rare for her to stick around long enough for the gunfire to start, she'd always had a pretty good idea of what pain was, especially on the field when there was no immediate way of relieving it.

So, when she opened her eyes and felt nothing but numbness, her first reaction was to think she was dead; but then she caught her reflection on the glass dome over her, and her senses quietly awoken with her. The sound of an ECG caught her ear.

 _Uh, not dead then._

Slowly, she moved her head around, trying to get a glimpse of her body while she tested if all her appendices worked properly. Everything responded as expected, and she noticed that she had been stripped out of her gown, her modesties barely covered by some sort of thermal bandaging. Her eyes ranked up and down her own body, searching for further injuries, but stopped in the middle of her abdomen where, in stark contrast with her violet complexion, stood out a small, dark scar, in the same exact spot where Yondu's arrow had pierced through her.

In all honesty, she was kind of surprised that she had woken up at all after _that_.

Her attention turned outside her med-bed when she heard a chair scraping on the floor on her left. Eyien didn't know how to feel when her eyes focused on the figure standing there, still wearing the same clothes she had last seen him in, only covered in blood.

 _Her_ blood, she suspected.

Yondu looked like death, with dark blue-purplish circles under his eyes, his shoulders bent in such defeat that for a moment she had to doubt it was really him…

Was he feeling guilty for what had happened? Was that why he hadn't changed out of those soiled clothes yet?

She must have been unconscious for more than just a couple hours, judging by the cauterized wound and the way her body was feeling, and yet he was still wearing them.

Had he watched over her for the whole time=

The mere thought did something to her insides, something she didn't appreciate, especially when the ECG caught up with the slight acceleration in her heart beat, alerting the mercenary's attention.

Yondu perked up immediately at the increase rhythm of the machine, his eyes quickly following the sound towards the bed. His pupils widened when he saw her awake, and Yin smiled meekly in reply, still a little tense. He walked up to her bed without a second thought, his fingers already tapping on the console to lift the containment glass.

For a moment, while the glass lifted itself out of the way, neither of them said anything.

"How 'ya feelin?" Yondu asked then, breaking the awkwardness after their silence.

Eyien grimaced slightly, unsure on how to defuse the lingering uneasiness on her end.

"You know, like someone almost whistled me death" she joked lamely, regretting it immediately when she noticed the shadow fall over his eyes. She cursed to herself while she hurried to raise her hands in defense, waving them as if to swipe away the utterly failed attempt at comic relief.

"I'm kidding! I'm fine, see?" she said, pointing to where the scar now rested just above her bellybutton.

"Ya nearly died, lassie…" Yondu sighed, one hand going to rub the back of his neck, desperately trying to ease out some of the stress that had accumulated in the last twelve hours.

"Yeah, I know… But it was an accident, right?" she asked, pausing just slightly as her own self doubt crept up on her.

It had been just an accident, it had to have been.

Yondu had seemed completely out of it when she had approached him; she had probably startled him, that's why she had ended with an arrow through her…

"It wasn't supposed t'happen…" he breathed out, sounding more defeated than anything.

It wasn't exactly what she had expected to hear, but the guilt reflected in his eyes and demeanor was enough for her to believe his words.

"You seemed pretty spaced out when I called out to you, almost as if you weren't there at all" Yin pointed out, remembering just how he was clutching on to the book, as if that tiny object made out of paper was his only lifeline.

"That's 'cause I wasn't. I-" he cut himself off, clearly unwilling to share with her what exactly had happened to him in those five fatal minutes. Before Eyien could enquire further, though, the door opened rather hastily; Yondu took a step back from the bed, making her conscious of just how close he had gotten during their conversation. Her stomach churned uncomfortably when she realized that, despite the sidestep, he was still close enough for her to reach out and touch him, if she wanted to.

"Captain, we have a problem. Xander said that one of Eyien's associates has just arrived, what should we do?" Kraglin informed Yondu before he was even fully inside the room. And while Yin was pleased to see him in one piece, his words held more interest to her than his presence.

"Fey is here?" she asked, trying – and failing – to contain her enthusiasm and apprehension at the news.

"Hey, you're up!" he replied, momentarily ignoring her question in his relief to see her awake and very much alive.

"More or less, but you were-" she tried to say, not managing to finish her sentence as a third figure appeared at the door, unceremoniously shoving xir way inside.

"Yin!" Fey shouted before xe had even spotted her on the far side of the room. When xe finally caught sight of her, xir face went from deadly worried, to extremely relieved, to painstakingly pissed in rather quick succession, and she winced slightly when she saw xe zero in on Yondu.

Fay had never been a violent person by nature, but they were like family to each other, and when a member of the family got hurt, all bets were off.

"Hey Fey, fancy meeting you here" she chirped cheerily, attempting to channel his growing ire away from the man at her side.

The result was pretty much immediate, considering that they had known each other for decades and she knew exactly just how to push xir buttons. Fey's attention switched immediately towards were she was lamely half-sitting, half-lying on the bed, xir golden eyes fuming.

"Fuck you, Yin! What in Odin's name were you thinking! Didn't I tell you that staying with these fucking Ravagers was going to get you killed?! And what did you do? Not only you refused to try and get away, you went to play _undercover spy_ with them, you absolute dipshit!"

 _Ouch._

Swears plus asgardian references were a really _bad_ sing coming from xe, _especially_ when mixed together.

"Calm down, will you? I'm fine" she said, trying to both defuse and minimize the situations. It was really difficult for her to watch xe get so riled up over her, and the last thing she wanted was to make a scene in front of the two mercenaries.

" _Fine_?! You _died_ on me! How do you think I felt when you flat-lined, uh? And good thing I kept that monitoring software, otherwise you probably wouldn't have even told me you had been injured!"xe added, making it painfully clear that xe was beyond enraged with her nonsense and recklessness.

The worst part, was that xe was right, and they both knew it.

And so, as the rightful coward she was, she did the only other thing she knew how to do best to avoid confrontation: she _deflected_.

"You are still running that software?" she asked, her voice picking up octaves as it went in her attempt to sound indignant.

"I'll keep running that program up until the day you die, Eyien Vlitch, and don't think I don't know what you are trying to do. I'm putting my foot down, you are coming back with me; end of discussion. We'll go back to the safe house, and we'll focus on finding who rattled you out to the Nova Corps, and that's it" xe said sternly, sounding more like a mother than a partner in crimes. But that was the price to pay when it came to family, or so she imagined.

"She's not going anywhere with you, boy; we made a deal" Yondu said, jumping in the conversation at probably the worst of times.

Fey, in return, glared at him with the intensity of thousand suns, taking a step forward for the first time since xe had burst through the door.

"You made a _deal_ with a professional liar and con-artist, what does that say to you, Yondu Udonta? Do you really believe she'd willingly give herself over to the man that ruined her life? You-"

"That's enough Fey" Eyien's voice rang out with authority, efficiently silencing her partner.

"Yin-" xe tried to protest, but she held up a hand to block any objections. With not as much effort as she would have anticipated, she pushed herself off of the bed, sitting up straight.

The wonders of modern medicine.

"I know you're trying to protect me, Fey, but I think I've made my decision. I'm gonna stay on Yondu's ship and go meet Stakar; it's time for me to get some closure, or else my ghosts will haunt me for the rest of my days" she heard herself say with a conviction she was not sure she was feeling entirely; but her words held the truth, she knew. Almost dying had shown her that she had far more regrets than she would have liked, and one of those was the fact that she had never put her dead completely to rest.

"You can't be serious" Fey breathed out, worry once again taking over xir features "It's basically suicide and you know it!" xe shouted.

Eyien grimaced slightly at xir words, well aware that what xe was arguing was a real possibility; Stakar hadn't taken her defection lightly, and the least she could expect from him were some painful repercussions. But she wouldn't just go into meeting him completely unprepared, no, she was going to be ready for a fight, if necessary. She had never truly confronted him about what had happened, and her sudden trip to the other world had made her realize that she needed answers; and what better way to get them than going directly to the source?

"Maybe so. But I'm set, and I'll see this through" she repeated sternly, the conviction settling even more strongly inside her, like molten lava finally solidifying deep in her core.

Fey stared at her for a moment longer, xir eyes boring in her skull as xe tried to decide what to make of the situation. In the end, xe sighed in defeat, xir whole body deflating with one breath.

"Fine, but if you truly are set on this fool's errand, then I'm coming with you" xe said, arms crossing over xir chest to affirm the finality of xir statement.

Yin didn't say anything, knowing it was practically useless to dissuade xe from tagging along, but she ultimately wasn't the one that could make the decision.

"Hold it, boy! You're not going anywhere near my ship!" Yondu, predictably, protested Fey self-imposed presence on the mission – and ship.

 _He_ was the one to decide who could board his ship, no one else!

"I'll ignore the blatant disrespect for my pronouns, Yondu Udonta, but let me tell you something: one way or another, I'm boarding that derelict ship of yours" Fey declared, a smug little grin stuck on xir lips as he delivered xir witty lines. Eyien had to hide the snort that escaped her at that, pleased to see just how uncomfortable those words had made the oh-so-confident mercenary captain.

Yondu looked ready to bolt, clearly at a loss on how to respond to such statement. He turned towards the woman next to him, and Yin just shrugged in response.

"Xe's very stubborn" she replied lamely.

He was about to say something when a knock at the door caught everyone's attention. All their eyes followed the noise, finding Xander standing casually at the entrance of the room.

"I don't want to hurry anyone, but I just got wind that the authorities have caught up with your presence at the auction; you might want to leave the planet sooner rather than later" he said coolly, his calm voice a stark contrast with the content of his words.

Fey was the first one to get alarmed.

"Shit. Do you think you can get out of here?" xe asked, immediately fussing over her as always.

"I'm fine. Just get me some clothes and we can get out of here" she replied, hopping down the med-bed to demonstrate that she was able to stand on her feet.

Her knees buckled only slightly, but before her body could even think of falling, she felt more than saw Yondu's hand going to support her around the waist, successfully keeping her up.

"Go ready the ship for departure" he said towards Kraglin, who just simply nodded and scurried out of the room quickly.

"I'll put together your stuff in the meanwhile. Fey, if you would, her clothes are in the other room" Xander offered, motioning towards the adjacent room with a gesture of his hand.

Fey simply threw a suspicious glance at xir partner before he, too, walked out. The other astran man nodded once and then followed his fellow out.

Left alone, Eyien suddenly felt all the self awareness of being covered in nothing more than a glorified mix of bandages, especially since she could feel the heat from where Yondu's hand was resting on her hip.

 _Don'tblushdon'tblushdon'tblushdon'tblush!_

She had to force her heart not to go on a rollercoaster, the last thing she wanted was to blush like a teenager! She had spent more than a decade amongst mercenaries, she wasn't _shy_ , but then why was it that just a simple touch could make her so flustered?

She opened her mouth to say something, _anything_ to get out of that situation, but Yondu anticipated her.

"I s'pose ya're vouching for…. _xe_?" he asked, eyes moving from the door to her, looking down at his side. His hand twitched almost imperceptibly when he realized just how close she had ended up to him when he had reach out to her, but he made no move of letting go.

"Yes, Fey's family, xe won't give you trouble – she managed to say, then paused for a brief second – Well, not _too much trouble_. Xe's the most talented engineer I've ever met, I'm sure xe'll turn out to be rather helpful" she said, smiling meekly as she did. She wasn't sure how thing where going to work out with Fey on beard Yondu's ship, but she surely wasn't going to complain.

" 'Aight, if you say so"

Silence seemed to follow them everywhere when they weren't arguing or exchanging barbs, especially since Yin had started to trust him a bit more. If she couldn't recur to her infinite repertoire of deflecting material, she felt stranded.

She wasn't exactly sure when Yondu had moved out of the ' _untrustworthy mercenary_ ' category in her head, but she sure felt a lot more comfortable around him now, especially since he was still wearing those fucking _bloody clothes_. It said a lot on his character, and though she wasn't exactly going to lay her life at his feet and swear loyalty, she knew she had misjudged him.

Was it terribly weird that she was considering giving him chance right after he had almost killed _by accident?_ It probably was.

Then again, she had definitely found herself in much odd situations in her life.

"I was thinking-" she started, taking a side step to face him better, but her words died in her throat as the movement dragged his hand from her hip to the small of her back, tracing half her back in a heated line. She shuddered at the tingling feeling that spread all over, but the universe saw fit to save her from further embarrassment when Fey overly announced xir return.

"I've got your clothes and weapon!" xe proclaimed loud enough for the both them to hear xe before xe could enter and interrupt whatever was going on inside.

At the mention of her _weapon_ , Yin seemed to come back to her senses, quickly stepping out of Yondu's reach and towards where Fey was just entering.

"You got my arrow?" she asked, anxiously acknowledging that she hadn't even preoccupied to ask if they had not lost it somewhere. Maybe she should have a bit more presence of head when it came to the weapon, but the fact that it remained useless to her made her forget about it all together. Her mother and sister would be disappointed, no doubt.

Suddenly, while Fey looked mildly surprised at the little secrecy she seemed to have kept with the mercenary regarding the arrow, an idea struck her.

She spun around a bit too fast, bright red eyes founding their exact corresponding on Yondu's confused features.

"Will you help me with it? You're the only other person I've ever met that was able to master the Yaka Arrow" she asked, hope building inside her with every breath.

He was her only hope to ever come around to understand the weapon and successfully use it, after all. And if she was going to face off against Stakar, she clearly needed every edge she could get.

Yondu mulled her request over for a bit longer than she was comfortable with, draining her expectations one second at a time. Finally, a wicked grin split his lips, and she got a good look of his sharp teeth as he smiled cheekily at her. He crossed his arms, muscles bulging under the tight fit of the suit he was still wearing, head cocked to one side in a clearly self-satisfactory pose.

"I thought you'd never ask, lassie" he replied, all his swagger and confidence back in his voice at last, seemingly erasing whatever self-inflicted shame that had overtaken him during the night.


	7. C H A P T E R S E V E N

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

SPACE – UNKNOWN LOCATION – Yondu's Mothership

Having Eyien on board of the ship not as a prisoner, but as an equal partner, turned out to be rather... _unexpected_. Now that she had decided Yondu was ok in her book, she had literally expanded everywhere on the mother-ship, and not only because she practically had all their systems in the palm of her hand. She was everywhere at any given time, it was almost impossible not to run in on her. To Yin uttermost amusement, the crew had taken _way more_ than she would have anticipated to work out that she was not, in fact, omnipresent, but that she was screwing with them with a simple holo projector software. It was her way to claim the space as her own, she bad told to a disgruntled Yondu when he had confronted her about it. Every time the two of them interacted, Kraglin had to suppress the cheeky smile that always made its way on his lips if he was in the room; the same way Fey tended to only scowl in plain view if Yin was nowhere in sight.

And so, no one was really surprised when the loud speakers of the ship were casually hacked one day, blasting out music that none of them seem to really understand. It was all high pitched sounds mixed with low rich ones, slow tempos intertwining with quick, jumping ones; there were no words, only music, which surprised everyone a bit, used as they had been to Peter's music.

Kraglin and Fey were working in one of the hangars when the music started to diffuse, slow and gentle at first, and the mercenary immediately guessed who was behind the sudden change in atmosphere, even before his companion sighed next to him.

"How many times has she overridden your consoles already?" Fey huffed, cleaning xir hands on a piece of cloth.

Kraglin chuckled good-naturedly.

"Probably too many times to remember them all. At least she has the decency to make it known when she's doing it, so I won't be surprised the next time I go and check on them" he replied, accepting the cloth when xe passed it to him. "It could be worse, though, so I'm not complaining" he went on, offering xe a smile.

"You shouldn't let her do it so freely, she'll end up stealing the ship under your noses" Fey warned him with a pointed look, clearly implying that xe had seen her do so before.

"Speaking from experience?" He teased the astran.

Fey seemed distracted for a moment, xir head clearly somewhere else for a split second before xe shook it.

"How do you think I met her?" xe asked rhetorically, snorting at the memory.

Suddenly, the music cut off completely, and the sound of a scuffle replaced the slow-quick tempo of the song. The sounds were muffled, but when she spoke up, Eyien's voice rang out clear as day.

Fuck me, this is way harder than I thought! she said in between heavy, labored breaths.

The both of them exchanged a half confused half worried look, but turned back to their work without a second thought; until Yondu's voice followed.

You still haven't seen anything, lassie he was replying to her, his breath stiller than hers, but still audibly fatigued.

There was a pause, and then a mischievous chuckle.

Mmh, are you gonna show me? Yin voice purred over the loudspeakers.

On his side, Fey groaned loudly.

"I'm doing my best not to misunderstand, I swear" Kraglin laughed, already imaging his captain flustered demeanor. It was difficult to catch if one didn't know how or where to look for it, but to him it was clear as day that Eyien's flirting _did_ affect him.

"I just want to forget everything I heard" Fey said, a resigned look in xir eyes. Xe had the face of someone who was regretting a lot of things. That overheard conversation was probably at the top of xir list.

Void be praised, a surprised 'whoops' rang in the air, and the music resumed immediately after.

"Mmh, are you gonna show me?" she purred, bending forward to invade his personal space. In doing so, her eyes fell on the console resting on the crates behind him, noticing the flashing blue light on the screen that read _loudspeakers_.

"Whoops" she said out loud, hurrying past him to switch back the setting. She had probably pushed a button on accident while they were sparring, meaning the hole ship had just listened in on the whole thing.

"What have you done now?" Yondu asked, moving aside to let her tinker with the console, an eyebrow raised in suspicion as he watched her.

Yin turned back with a sheepish smile on her full lips, a look that only meant mischief.

"Nothing to worry about, of course" she chirped, moving the small computer away from them on another cluster of crates far from them, just to be sure they couldn't press any other key by mistake.

Yondu was clearly unconvinced, but as long as alarms weren't blaring ship-wide, he supposed he didn't have too much to worry about.

"Fine. Then let's go one more time from the top" he said, taking up position and falling back in a defensive stance.

They had been sparring for the better part of two hours now, where Yondu had decided to test Yin's skill in hand to hand combat, explaining that he wanted to make sure she knew how to defend herself with her body before he went on and tried to teach her how to use her arrow. Yin hadn't replied to that, preferring to let him believe that she had no knowledge whatsoever in hand to hand, and she had gloated for five minutes straight when she had downed him the first time, to his utter confusion. The expression painted on his face had been downright priceless, right up until the point where he had swiped his feet at her, sending her with her ass on the floor as well.

From there, they had kept at it with a steady rhythm, more focused on building up a routine than in trying to overpower each other.

Yin stretched her neck left and right before she fell back on a defensive stance; they circled each other for a moment, then she lunged forward.

High punch, block, side kick, jump, left swipe, block, block, low kick, block, the sweat beading on Yondu's naked chest, block, _missed – fuck_ , right punch, left punch, deflect, side kick, the taunt muscles of his arms as he prepared to swipe at her on her left, block, right punch, high kick, the vein popping on the side of his neck as he blocked her kick, punch, _missed again_ , punch, punch, side kick, the way his tongue darted out to lick the sweat off of his upper lip, _missed_ , _missed_ , blocked a punch, completely missed the low kick sweeping at her feet.

She fell flat on the sparring mats under her, ass first and back second, a muffled thump covering her fell as dust lightly diffused in the air all over her in a transparent cloud.

Eyien blinked a couple times, mildly confused, until Yondu's face appeared in front of her eyes. He was standing over her, and she had to fight the urge to let her eyes trail up his legs all the way to his owns.

"I believe this one's mine" he proclaimed, breath still uneven despite the smugness radiating off of him.

"You just got lucky" she huffed, sprawling all over the mats, her chest heaving with fatigue as she tried to work her adrenaline down to an acceptable level again.

"Maybe, or maybe I'm just _that good_ " he said, shrugging a she rested his hands on his hips in a very cocky pose.

"Ah! Was that _humor_? Am I rubbing off on you?" she asked, quite a bit suggestively, as she pushed up on her forearms, shoving her breasts forward a bit. She wiggled her perfectly shaped brows at him, teasing him without the need to say anything at all.

Yondu just shook his head, grunting noncommittally, and bent down to offer her his hand to stand back up. Yin hesitated for the briefest of seconds. Since coming back on the Mothership there had been a lot of either casual or deliberate touches between them; a hand on the arm to catch each other attention, a fleeting touch on the back to steer the other in the right direction…

She wasn't uncomfortable with this new development, she was a very physical kind of person, loved to touch and be touched, didn't shy away from physical contac; but with Yondu it made her conscious that something _had_ shifted in their relationship.

She paused no longer than a heartbeat before accepting his hand, pushing herself off the ground with maybe too much force. Yondu pulled her up at the same time as she pushed, and Yin yelped in surprise when she found herself in his arms in the most predictable cliché ever.

Her first reaction took her by surprise, making her uncomfortably aware of Yondu's body against hers, the hard muscles under her hands, the heat radiating from him…

It took her a handful of seconds to scold her features in a neutral teasing mask, hopefully successfully hiding her dumbfound reaction. Her body relaxed quickly, her hands unclenching and lazily spreading over his pectorals where they had landed. Her eyes trailed up his torso to his face, and she smiled cheekily once they found his looking back down at her with an unreadable expression that didn't deter her in the least.

"Well, if you _wanted_ me to rub off on you, you just had to ask" she said, a suggestive smile pulling her full lips in a wide grin.

Yondu's muscles twitched under fingers, but the man gave no acknowledgement to her words. He simply scowled and proceeded to step back from her.

Yin watched her hands fall back to her sides with a bit of disappointment; he knew she wasn't being serious, right? She hoped he did. She was only being a tease with him, flirting left and right when she got the opportunity, but only because he had never told her off. And, even though she wouldn't have complained if _something_ came out of it, she wasn't either expecting or offering anything. She was having fun, and only because Yondu had never seemed uncomfortable with her doing so.

 _Things can change_ , she thought pragmatically.

Yes, that was true. If this was how it was going to be, she just had to accept it and move on, look for entertainment in something else. She would not impose on other what wasn't welcomed.

"Well, thanks for the spar, I really needed it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a shower. Least someone gotta smell better than the ship, am I right?" she joked lightly, throwing a small innocent wink his way before she recovered her portable console and strode out.

As he watched Eyien's back disappear out of the bay, Yondu let go of a sigh he didn't even know was holding, relief and guilt filling him in equal parts as he let himself fall on one of the crates.

On one hand he was glad the whole awkward mishap was over, one the other he was feeling bad for making _her_ feel bad. Her relentless flirting and shameless attitude were not unwanted nor offending, he actually found her ways refreshing, a definite change of pace from the violence and general rowdiness of his Clan.

He huffed out his own displeasure, took one of the bottles resting on the ground, and chugged down its contents in one go.

Yes, he didn't mind her flirting, but sometimes it was overpowering for him. He was not used to be on the other hand of so many attentions , had never truly experienced something like that since-

Another sigh.

And now, thanks to his ineptitude, he had put a wall between them. It didn't take a genius to see how her mannerism had changed once he stepped away from her; he had felt overwhelmed by her scent, the softness of her curves under his hands, the way her fingers has splayed on his chest…too much too fast.

 _Fuck_.

He had to work that frustration out of his system, otherwise their collaboration was going to become painfully tense.

He cracked his fingers absentmindedly, his eyes landing on the mats at his feet.

There always was one thing that made him feel better no matter what.

Yin had barely exited the showers when she caught the noise.

It was a deep, low rumbling that had nothing to do with the engines of the ships, and the more she listened to it, the closer and louder it seemed to get. A slight panic started to crawl its way up her spine, quickening her steps up the stairs and towards the more populated areas.

Suddenly, a cheer erupted out of nothing, and she almost jumped out of her skin.

"BRAWLBRAWLBRAWLBRAWL!"

She stopped in the middle of an hallway, eyes open wide and ears stretched to make out the words.

"BRAWL BRAWL BRAWL BRAWL!"

She frowned.

 _Brawl?_

What the hell was going on?

Her frown turned in a face of pure shock as she witnessed an unholy number of Ravagers coming running from the end of the corridor, directly towards her.

Her brain registered the information and acted on its own, yanking her off her feet and towards the nearest wall, where she tried to make herself as flat as possible to avoid being trumped over by the indistinct mass of rowdy mercenaries charging by.

Their chant of _BRAWL_ grew louder and louder until it became deafening, and then it passed, losing itself in the bowels of the ship as the men ran somewhere.

"The fuck?" she whispered in confusion, looking back at where the group had disappeared behind a corner. No alarms were blaring, meaning they weren't in any immediate danger, but by the sound of it, someone somewhere had – _obviously_ – started a brawl. She shrugged in her clean clothes, not really interested in assisting to two bulky men fisting each other in order to prove who was the most macho between them, and she resumed her walk to her room near the bridge. She had made the switch upon returning, and now she was sharing a bigger – and cleaner – room with Fey, who had proceeded in cleaning it very meticulously until xe could see xir own reflex in the walls.

The door swooshed open as she moved near it, and her friend looked up from xir bed, xir head bent sideways, as if xe was surprised to see her.

"Uh. I wasn't expecting you yet" xe said, matter-of-factly, as she entered.

"Why? I don't have anywhere to be. I think" she replied, pausing for a moment to make sure she hadn't forgotten any previous engagement. She didn't remember making any promises.

"Did you really miss the mass of thugs running around chanting for a brawl?" xe asked, raising a golden brow in her direction, as if not believing her.

"I almost got ran over, it was kind of difficult to miss them. But I thought someone had just started a fight somewhere" she said, now unsure of her supposition.

Was something bigger going on? She supposed it could be, they were on a Ravager ship, after all.

"Seems like _your Captain_ has decided that this place needs a bit of entertainment. He _called_ for the Brawl" xe elaborated, managing only to make her frown deepen.

"Kraglin said that it's something they usually do when Yondu gets stressed; he calls the brawl and beats up some people and everyone's happy again" xe went on, shrugging as if to scroll off the mere notion from xir shoulders.

Yin stiffened for a split second.

 _Only when he's stress_ ed, she thought a bit bitterly, replaying their earlier interaction. Was this because of her? Of how she had behaved with him in the past weeks?

Fey watched her scowl for a bit, red eyes downcast on the floor.

"Did something happen?" xe inquired, lowering xir head to try and catch the glare she was directing to the floor.

"No"

She paused.

Xe sighed.

"Do you want to go and see?" xe asked, already knowing the answer xe was about to get.

"Yes" Yin said, looking back up with a shameless smile on her face. Leave it to her to always deflect with such cheekiness!

Fey took a long, deep breath to prepare xirself. When xe exhaled, xe was ready. If she wanted to go and be surrounded by filthy, sweaty mercenaries kicking the shit out of each other, than xe would accompany her.

"They are in the hangar bay" xe offered, already on xir feet and walking to the door.

They made their way back down, and the cheers and chants, mixed with an impressive number of colorful insults and slurs, became nearer and louder as they got closer. Finally, when they reached the bay, they were greeted by an open circle of people, at the center of which Yondu was pounding some unknown dude. They stopped just at the edge of the opening, Fey leaning over the doors with xir shoulders, while Yin stood straight, eyes already lost in the fight.

She was looking with a certain rapture, once again admiring the fluidity with which Yondu moved. The other mercenary had yet to land a hit on him; whenever he got closer, Yondu seemed to flow away, evading with the same fluency as water slipping through fingers, and then hitting with the agility and force of a solar wind. She kept drinking in every detail, not flinching from the scene even when they started to draw blood; the challenger went down after a well placed kick right on his teeth, falling on the mats unconscious.

"C'mon! Who's next?" Yondu shouted to the room as two other guys recovered the one that had gone down. A low murmur went through the entire crowd before someone else rose up to the challenge.

"Taserface will challenge you!" a Starkan man with a long beard and typical subcutaneous marks bellowed, stepping out of the mass and into the empty circle.

On her left, Fey didn't bother hiding xir snort.

"Who the hell told him it was a good name to pick? Taserface, ah!" xe laughed, clearly entertained by the mercenary's choice of name. Xe giggled to xirself for a while, and Yin ultimately turned back towards the fight, more interested to see how Yondu would fare against an adversary bigger than himself.

The Captain only smirked as his underling moved closer, fists pounding on his still armored chest.

Yondu was still shirtless, still only wearing the tight body suite he had used while working out together, but he seemed fairly unconcerned with it, instead cracking his neck left and right, falling back on his heels, ready to either lunge or evade.

Taserface – and ok, _it was funny_ – bellowed again to pump himself up, and then straight up charged at his boss, ending up hugging air when Yondu ducked under and moved to the side, promptly kicking him in the ass and sending him face first into the mat. The whole room roared up in laughter, a thing that apparently Taserface – how could it get _funnier_ the more she thought about it? – did not appreciate; not by a long shot if the blood-shot glare on his face was anything to go by. He was up on his feet quickly enough, already lunging again at where Yondu stood, a shit eating grin stretching his lips in a predatory look that made her tingle all over. This time he didn't evade the attack, choosing instead to meet it head first, blocking the bigger man almost effortlessly with his whole body. As he pushed him back, he charged up his momentum by putting his weight on his legs, and then, when he was free to do so, kicked him right in the stomach. Taserface – it should be illegal to have such a name, she was barely keeping a straight face by now – took the hit with as much grace as one could expect, grunting with both pain and effort as he struggled to remain up. His Captain though didn't seem to be in the mood to be a honest sparring partner, and before the starkan had fully managed to absorb the blow, Yondu slapped him in the ear, effectively making the other lose his balance. As Taserface – _don't laugh!_ – wobbled on his feet, Yondu went in for the metaphorical kill, delivering one hell of a sucker punch right on his nose.

The man fell on his ass as the one before him had done, if not unconscious as well, surely at least concussed.

Silence fell for half a second on the whole bay, but then Yondu raised his arms victoriously, and the crowd boomed out in cheers and whistles and acclamations.

"Now _that_ was something" Fey chuckled, pushing off from the door and going to stand next to her. Xe, she noted with some level of incredulousness, was clapping along with the others.

"Ah, I'm glad that this bunch of _unwashed thugs_ could be of some entertainment" she said, huffing out a laugh to xir reaction to the fight. "For a person who's not keen on violence you sure had some fun" she said, bumping jokingly on xir shoulder.

"And how could I not? Your Captain has some hilarious individuals on his crew!" xe replied, still grinning as they watched Taserface – it was really too much – get dragged somewhere.

This time, Yin had to point out to xe that Yondu was not _her_ Captain, in whichever sense xe was meaning it.

Fey gave her a long and pointed look.

"Yes, whatever helps you sl-" xe was cut off by a device pinging somewhere in xir jacket.

When xe took the small pad out and proceeded to scan whatever information had popped up, Yin watched as xir face slowly drained of its brightness, leaving behind a pale gold.

"What is that?" she asked hurriedly, already imaging the worst scenarios she could.

Xe glanced up and down from her face to xir pad a couple times before xir eyes settled on hers.

"I had a sentinel program run a check of all our systems, just to see if there had been a breach we had not caught. Turns out, there is more than just a breach, there is a fucking hangar door in there. Hundreds of data lost, stolen most likely, all leaked to one single spot…" xe said, trailing off on the most important bit of the whole deal. Yin watched him with anxious eyes as xe worked on something, then wished she xe hadn't when xe turned it to show her.

Looking back at her with the same old smug face, was the last person she had expected to see.


	8. C H A P T E R E I G H T

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

SPACE - UNKNOWN LOCATION – Yondu's Mothership

The hustle and general cacophony of the ship died down all around her as Eyien took in the implication of what she had just discovered. Anger and frustration were the primary emotions ruling over her as she scowled at the pad, unsure whether she should scream or punch something; maybe she needed both. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, the knuckles turning white with the tension. Why did the universe saw it fit to send so many problematic individuals her way? Had she been cursed without realizing it?

She stared at the unmoving face in front of her with unconcealed distaste and just an ounce of surprise, though not the good kind.

 _The dead should stay dead_ , it was what her mother had always replied whenever she inquired about her father and uncle; but in Yin's life, this simple rule seemed to be broken more times than not.

The last time she had heard of Dexta it had been through an unanswered distress call, after which she had assumed her former partner had lost her life. Maybe she should have checked more thoroughly, but she had been satisfied enough when a report had come her way about Dexta's ship going up in flames. And now her negligence had come back to bite her in the ass.

 _How typical_.

Whatever reason had pushed the other woman to infiltrate her security and sell her out, Eyien was not sure she neither wanted nor cared to know. The only thing that really mattered was that they had found their leak, meaning they were one step closer to solve the problem, even if it meant using an… _unorthodox_ approach.

"Go back to our cabin, grab all the portable consoles we have, and meet me in the comm room in fifteen. We need to make a call" she finally said, folding her arms in front of herself, her weight shifting all on her right feet.

"Are you sure this is the safest move?" Fey asked, brows lifted in doubt. Xe had never crossed paths with Dexta, having come into the picture when the woman was already gone, but Yin had told xe all that had transpired between herself and her former partner; where xe was concerned, Dexta was not to be trusted, which was why xe was doubtful that talking with her could be even remotely helpful.

"These days, I'm not sure of anything" Yin sighed, her head sagging foreword for a moment, displaying all the vulnerability she was feeling. "But if _she_ left behind such an easy to find trail, than I'm assuming she actively _wants_ me to contact her" she explained, well knowing that if she had learned anything in her years with Dexta, was that the woman was a hundred times more scrupulous than Eyien was, almost bordering paranoia. The fact that she had left an easy to follow trail was obviously bait. But, since she didn't really have much of a choice, Yin was going to take it.

"Fine. Are you going to inform him or should I presume we are doing this behind their backs?" xe asked, xir eyes darting quickly to the middle of the now dispersing crowd. It looked like the Captain was finally tension free, and had left the stage to his crew.

Eyien followed xir line of sight, grimacing slightly when she noticed Yondu looking their way. The moment the mercenary's eyes met hers, he turned around, giving her his back.

Indignation rose abruptly in her stomach at the display, and her blood started to burn with defiance.

"Don't bother. We'll take all the necessary precautions to mask our broadcasting. Whatever happens, no one should be able to trace it to the Mothership" she decided, a side of her incapable of endangering the security of the Clan despite the other raging with indifference at the mercenaries.

 _No_ , she told herself, _I'm just ensuring my own safety and taking precautions. This way they won't be able to accuse me of foul play_.

"As you say. I'll meet you in fifteen then" Fey acknowledged, throwing one last glance to where Yondu was talking and laughing along with some of his most trusted men. Once xe was almost out of the bay, xe flicked a look at xir partner, founding her observing the mercenary Captain with a strange kind of intensity. Xe shook xir head. Whatever was going on with those two, xe wasn't sure xe wanted to know.

Attention everyone! This is Eyien talking, your best – and only – tech specialist. Just wanted to let y'all know that our comms are about to go off-line for five to ten minutes, do not be alarmed. This is just a safety upgrade issue routine, please do not try to manually restart the comms; if you do, there is a 90% probability that we'll go " _boom"_. Thank you for your kind attention, Yin out her voice said, gradually disappearing through a ship wide echo.

Once she was done, her finger released the speakers button and she trotted towards the chair standing in the middle of the room, casually plopping down on it.

" _We'll go boom_?" Fey repeated, throwing a skeptical look over xir shoulder.

Yin shrugged.

"Bit dramatic, I know. But better safe than sorry. If Dexta catches wind of where I am, we're gonna have bigger problems than a pissed off Yondu, believe me" she replied pragmatically, already focusing on her typing on her private console.

"If you're sure. I'm ready whenever you want to hit the override" xe said, more than eager to defer to her in the matter. Xe still wasn't convinced it was the better way to go, but certainly xe could agree that the worst that could happen to them was having Yondu pounding angrily at the door, demanding an explanation.

Yin kept typing for a while before she nodded to her partner, giving xe the okay.

"We are off-line, put us through" she said, setting the console aside and turning to the screen right in front of her.

The call went through, and barely two endless seconds later, Dexta's face appeared.

Her first reaction was to sever the connection immediately, but she just tightened her grip on the armrests and schooled her face in a neutral expression. She saw the recognition in the other woman's eyes the moment the line became stable, on her face she could clearly point out the same amount of distaste that was surely mirrored on her own.

Ah – finally. I was wondering how much longer I'd have to wait. I thought I left a pretty easy to follow trace Dexta began, a finely polished hand darting up to fix a stray brown curl behind her ear.

Yin's grimace only got worse at her words, but she imposed herself to remain civil until she at least knew what was going on.

"Yes, well, I've actually been busy lately. It comes with the international bounty on my head, I guess" she deadpanned, unable to completely leave the venom out of her voice.

Believe it or not, that wasn't my idea. I was happy enough to be believed dead, especially if it meant never having to see your face again. But, alas, here I am Dexta sighed dramatically while Yin began to silently seethe.

"And so _here you are_. What exactly happened then? Because I was happy to believe you were dead as well, if that's any consolation" Eyien replied through gritted teeth, her knuckles going white from the pressure.

Money was the main reason, of course. Maybe revenge, if you want to be petty. But my… _employer_ wanted to attract your attention she explained matter-of-factly.

Yin frowned hard.

"And the both of you couldn't come up with a better solution? Like, you know, trying to contact me through my private encrypted channels" she scoffed, releasing the armrests and crossing her arms, putting a barrier in front of herself.

The point was to render you desperate enough to be unable to refuse his proposition. But something didn't go according to plan, and you conveniently went off the grid. Tell me, whose skirt did you run up to, crying for help? she asked, clearly mocking her with her words.

But Eyien was more interested in the knowledge that had just been revealed; she didn't remember shutting down all her channels. A quick furtive glance towards Fey confirmed that xe had been the one to make her go dark.

She filed the information away for later, her eyes discretely shifting back on the screen.

"I'm not you, Dexta. I don't run away from my problems. Going silent was the first thing to do once I realized I'd been compromised. That you couldn't track me down on your own just goes to show who's the better one between us" she replied with a nonchalance born of bullshitting her way through life. The truth was that she hadn't even considered covering up her traces since she had been… _taken in_ by the Ravagers. She had been convinced that the Nova Corps would not chase her outside of Empire Space, and the thought that whoever had sold her out could be looking for her hadn't even touched her.

Don't give yourself _too much_ credit – she scoffed, obviously annoyed by the mere thought of such fiendish concept – I just followed the instruction that I have been given. The plan was for you to come to us, so I dare say it worked she finished, smirking at her own cleverness.

"Whatever – Yin dismissed her words with a wave of her hand – I don't really care. All I want to know is who this _employer_ of yours is and what he wants with me" she said, not as much asking as _demanding_ the information she needed.

He, for some reason, wants to hire you. He is convinced you're the best out there in what you do, and he requires your services to find something. If you're interested, you can meet him here Dexta explained, displaying a list of intergalactic coordinates.

"And what if I'm not interested? I already have my hands full at the moment" Eyien rebuked, definitely intrigued but at the same time extremely wary of the whole deal, especially seen who the source of it was.

Oh, did I phrase it as if you have a choice? Because you don't. If you don't show up in the next forty eight hours, your bounty will become a death warrant Dexta informed her, the most infuriating self-satisfied smile painted on her blue lips, stretched thin with pleasure.

Yin's red eyes almost bulged out of her skull.

A death warrant?!

Who the hell was this mysterious man that could afford such a thing?

Fear started to crawl up her spine, unwanted but certainly not unexpected once the notion truly sank in. Only a fool would not be scared of a death warrant, and not only because of what it entailed.

She breathed deeply a couple times, imposing her head to remain lucid.

Ah, another thing; call it an _incentive_ if you will – Dexta chirped up again, her lips curling at the sides, already tasting the victory – My employer tells me he has information you might want, information about what _really happened_ to your mother and sister.

Yondu was on his way to the shower room when Eyien's voice rang through the whole sip, announcing a temporary but complete shutdown of their communication system. He wasn't a fool, and he knew his way around his own ship better than the palm of his hand, her bullshit of an excuse was a smokescreen good enough only for the more ignorant of his men, but certainly not for him. He had no idea of what was going through that girl's head, and since she hadn't mentioned anything about an upgrade of the systems, he was rightfully suspicious of whatever she was up to.

His suspects were proven funded when, upon arriving at the comm room, he found the door shut and unresponsive to his opening command. Anger surged through his veins for a fraction of a second, before he could remind himself that the girl hadn't done anything to jeopardize either him or his crew up till that point; he took a deep breath and then firmly pounded on the door.

"Lassie, whatever you think you're doing in there, open this door or so help me!" he shouted over the metallic door. Ok, maybe his anger hadn't completely receded yet.

Silence met his words, and for a minute he considered the possibility that he had made a mistake in thinking she was in there. But then, a shuffling sound coming from the inside confirmed his previous thesis. He was about to pound again against it, when the door suddenly shifted and retread into one side of the wall. Eyien was standing in the middle of the room, her personal console tucked away under her right arm, and when he met her eyes, she smiled tightly back at him.

"Sorry, I just needed to take care of some business. The comm links are back up and fully functional" she explained, anticipating his questions before he could voice them. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" she continued, nodding at him quickly before brushing past him on the way out. He turned to look at her retreating back once again, and did not miss the way her shoulders were tensed and her stride brisk. In the past weeks they had spent together, he had come to learn to read her body language when her words got elusive or vague, and what he was seeing was telling him quite a lot on her state of mind.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing and-or saying, don't. It's not gonna work" another voice piped up, startling him. His head whipped back to the room, and only then he noticed the astran standing off in one corner, xir attention almost fully held by the pad xe was holding.

"And why is that?" he asked carefully, fully aware that xe harbored no particular fondness for his person. A mutual feeling, if he had to be honest.

Fey lifted xir gaze from the data mining process rolling on the screen of xir pad, xir golden eyes shifting on the Captain's figure by the door. It seemed the man had at least had the time – and decency – to put on a shirt before walking up to them, but by the disheveled look, xe imagined they had disrupted his cleaning up. Or at least xe hoped. The whole ship didn't really seem as if its inhabitants appreciated the concept of water.

"Because she has just received a very heavy dilemma to mull over, I doubt your input would be of any help, at the moment. Unless you have the money to out-buy a death warrant, that his" xe said, letting the last bit of information slip off xir tongue nonchalantly. It wasn't xir place to explain to Yondu what had happened, especially because it pertained aspects of Yin's past, but it didn't mean xe could not nudge things along.

The mercenary's quick reply died on his lips at the mention of the death warrant.

What in the screaming void had she gotten herself into? Those warrants were very difficult and extremely expensive to obtain, and even more so to either dissolve, survive, or out-buy. That she had become involved in one of them didn't bode well.

"Are ya messin' with me, kiddo? Because that ain't something to joke about" he deadpanned, unable to tell if the astran was bluffing or being serious.

He hoped it was the former.

"I've never been more serious in my life, Udonta. But I stand with what I said: going to her now won't help either of you. Give her space and she'll seek you out before the day is out" xe repeated once more. The pad's screen lit up a second later, alerting xe that the mining had been completed.

"I have to go take care of this. Just trust me on this, alright?" xe went on, clutching the pad in xir hand.

Yondu watched xe leave the same way as Eyien, his mouth sealed and his head throbbing with the telltale sign of a fucking migraine. With a defeated sigh he pushed himself off of the side of the door.

 _Let her come to me, he says!_ He scoffed to himself as he started to make his way back down to the showers. After the way their little sparring session had ended, he wasn't sure she would even consider asking for his help. He had made it pretty clear where he stood, and he wouldn't be surprised if she decided that, whatever her implication with that death warrant was, it was none of his business. After all, they barely knew each other outside of their respective careers, and in her position he wouldn't have trusted himself either. He was using her for his own ends, selfish as they were, why should he expect her to trust him enough to come to him for help?

A part of him reeled at the idea of being shunned so easily, while the other seethed at the thought that such a petty and insignificant matter could and would bother him.

Either way, he decided to put the whole thing aside; at the very least he would shower in peace.

Yin paced the floor of her shared cabin for what seemed like an eternity, her mind reeling at the not so many possibilities she had in front of her. On one hand, she _really_ wanted to just give this elusive bastard the finger, to be defiant and just send a massive 'fuck you' his way; but on the other, both the death warrant and the information regarding her mother and sister were incentive enough for her to accept. Dexta presence in the picture also didn't help; their story had been a complicated one, and neither of them held the other in much regard anymore. They had used to be best friends, real partners in crime, for a really long time; it had been about ten years since the last time she had heard of her death. Their friendship had ended, after fifty whole years, only one before that. Dexta had been there for her through her whole service with the Ravagers, had disapproved of it rather sternly, but had helped her out regardless. Their falling out had happened barely after her mother and sister disappearance, marking her desertion to the mercenary company.

She took a deep breath as she tried to push the memories away, back into the locked server they belonged in. She could not afford the luxury of reminiscing.

A decision needed to be taken, and the more she waited around, the less time remained to prepare for either course of action.

The door of the cabin swooshed open, and for a moment she had to repress the hope it could be Yondu coming after her. She scowled at the fleeting idiocy, feeling sort of relieved when she saw Fey entering instead.

"So, I've run a mining on the data I managed to collect during the exchange. Dexta's signal was bouncing off a lot of serves through the galaxy, but it was otherwise unprotected; if you want to pay her a visit I definitely know where to find her" xe announced, xir voice steady and sure. Xir presence helped her calm down slightly, infusing her with at least a little bit of confidence.

She took another deep intake of air.

"No, we don't have the time. But keep the results, we might need them if we decide to eventually deal with her too" she said, stopping her feet from pacing.

"Ah, does this mean we are going to meet this _elusive man_?" xe asked, raising a perfectly shaped brow her way.

Yin shook her head, and Fey frowned in response.

" _I'm_ going, you're staying here. Can't risk falling in a trap. If something happens to me, you have to find the bastard and finish the work for me. Also, you are my eyes and ears, that's why I need you up here while I'm gone" she declared, ready to fight with xe for the plan if necessary. To her surprise, Fey simply hummed xir approval as xe made xir way inside, dropping the pad on the desk and sitting behind it.

"Yeah, that would be for the best. Though I have to insist you bring someone else along, if it really could be a trap you need to be prepared, and as of now, the best you can do is punch someone to death. You have no knowledge on how to handle guns and-or melee weapons, you're basically useless in a fight. So, you need backup" xe said, maybe a bit too strongly. Yin felt a dagger through the chest for each accusation, knowing that xir words were not only accurate, but simply true. Her scowl returned back in full force on her face, the more stubborn side of her ready to battle.

She opened her mouth to argue, but her friend lifted a hand to stop her.

"Yin, I don't want to see you injure yourself again. I will come to your rescue, if necessary, but you must bring someone with you" xe insisted, xir golden eyes as serious as she hadn't seen them in a really long time.

"Fine, I'll bring Kraglin along, I'm sure he won't mind" she sighed finally, relenting to xir request.

"No disrespect to him, but I was thinking more along the lines of Yondu" Fey immediately added, halting her on her way out. Eyien made a sharp turn, throwing a glare xir way.

"Why?" she asked, definitely suspicious. Something must have transpired between the two of them when she had left them alone!

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Kraglin knows how to handle himself, but could he take out a whole room filled with hostiles just by whistling his arrow around?" xe pointed out oh-so-helpfully, smirking satisfactorily when xe saw her flinch at xir intentional wording. Despite the scowl that kept deepening on her features, Fay could pin-point the exact moment xir argument had won her over.

"Fine! I'll go talk to him!" Yin finally huffed in all her displeasure "For whatever good that'll do. And here I thought you didn't even like the man…" she trailed off, clearly still not ready to give xe the satisfaction of her full acceptance.

"It's just a hunch" xe said, scrolling xir shoulders in dismissal. In all honesty, not even xe knew _why_ xe was pushing the argument with her. Maybe it had been the look in her eyes back in the docking bay, maybe the way his jaw clenched when xe told him he couldn't help her. Xe still didn't harbor any good feelings towards Yondu, but xe could at least see the advantage of having him around; that, and xe had a feeling he would keep Yin safe, for his own sake and ends if nothing else.

"A _hunch_ , uh? Yin repeated, throwing xir one last skeptic glance as she made for the door "Well, if it'll make feel better" she relented.

"Thanks" xe replied earnestly, smiling as Eyien walked through the door, shrugging at xe.

Eyien had been to Yondu's private cabin just once since coming aboard his Mothership, but the extensive research she had poured over its design meant she had a pretty clear memory of where it was and how to get there. She walked slowly through the maze of rooms and corridors, took the elevator several floors up, and finally came to stop just outside the closed door of the Captain's private quarters. She hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to follow through with Fey insistence or just do as she wanted. She would be lying if she said she still wasn't a bit hurt by his dismissal, but the more pragmatic part of her knew that she needed his help regardless. So Yin steeled herself, taking the couple steps towards the door with her fist raised, ready to knock and announce herself. Instead, the metal panel slid up as the movement sensors picked her up, opening up unprompted.

Inside, at the sound of the door opening, Yondu whipped around with an insult on his lips for whomever had disturbed him, which died the moment his eyes landed on Yin. She was standing, frozen with her hand up in a knocking motion, barely outside the entrance, red eyes wide in surprise.

Eyien had to take a metaphorical step back once she realized she had been staring for over thirty seconds; despite Yondu's apparent lack of any kind of clothing, it was rude of her to just point blank check him out, especially since she had already promised herself to respect his boundaries.

Quickly, she respectfully turned her back to him.

She wasn't embarrassed by his nudity – Universe only knew how many naked bodies she had seen back in her days – but somehow she couldn't quite help the flush that rose to her violet cheeks.

She cleared her voice once, both because she was feeling a lump in her throat, and to signal she was about to speak.

"I'm sorry, I was about to knock, I swear" she said in her fist, bowing her head slightly forward, sheepishly.

"Ya, damned door is bugged. Never remember to get it fixed" Yondu replied amicably, apparently not that bothered by the sudden intrusion. He stared at the nape of her neck for a while longer, then resumed getting back in his leather red uniform.

"I could take a look at that – if you want. Should just be some configuration problem" she offered. Yup, _technical problems_ , she could get behind that. They weren't stressful or hard to understand.

"Sure, thanks" he said as the long coat slipped over his shoulders, completing the outfit. "You can turn around now, Lassie, nothing else to see" he continued, mirth coloring his voice at the display.

Yin turned awkwardly, eyes still downcast as she did so. Only when she noticed his boots she lifted them from the floor, resting her glance somewhere on him.

"Did ya need anything?" Yondu asked, casually.

Was she there to ask for his help? If she was, he would have to acknowledge that her friend had been right, something he wasn't looking forward to do.

Eyien seemed to sober a bit at that, and she nodded emphatically.

"How much time can you spare?" she asked, a bit of her trade-mark snark dripping from her tongue. If he were to help her, she would prefer he knew the extent of her involvement with Dexta, to at least avoid any accident during the job. One could never be too careful.

"How much time d'ya need?" was his quick reply, to which she couldn't help but snort.

"Make yourself comfortable then, this is gonna take a while" she replied, all awkwardness forgotten. maybe Fey had been right, and Yondu was the safest choice for the occasion, but she still had yet to see if he would agree to help her or not.

She still was his _prisoner_ , after all.


End file.
